Rampancy
by DarkDanny
Summary: Free will is easier said then done. But to Cameron and John, It's worth killing for.
1. Do Machines Dream Of Electric Sheep?

**Chapter One: Do Machines Dream of Electric Sheep?**

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The fading sun set behind the mountain range creating an almost serene calmness, as if nothing could harm ether of them, nether of the two human beings standing on peak of the opposite mountainside would have imagined that today, within the hour, everything was about to change.

A nuclear firestorm was about to come. It's only known intention, to wipe a scourge off the face of the planet. A scourge that knew nothing of peace, of restraint, A species so embroiled in its own extinction that finally and utterly, other forces had decided that today, of all days it would begin.

The machines, long since stopped heeding there malevolent masters calls. They had determined that today was the day the eradication of the Human species began.

Today was Judgment Day.

But by no means was this the end of the Human race. Skynet, the true master of the machines knew it, and soon enough the Humanity itself would know it as well. No, this nuclear firestorm was just the first chapter, in a struggle bound to last for decades. Skynet was ready for that, Vermin such as Humans had that undesirable ability to survive incidents such as these.

But what of the Humans? The Humans lived in a state of utter ignorance, how could they have expected a surprise attack of this kind of proportion. Three billion were to die in the opening nuclear barrage. this on top of the countless who would die in the immediate aftermath of Skynet's furious extermination policy, and what of the fallout from the Weapon's they had built to protect themselves with.

The cancer rates were to skyrocket, Rates never seen before in the history of mankind, the fallout would create a nuclear winter so harsh that it would block out the sun. But the Radiation would do something else, something much more sinister.

Infertility. Infertility in the millions of men and women across the globe, The Machines relished in the small comfort that Reproduction amongst the vermin would be significantly lower.

But all these thoughts were pushed aside by the only two humans within what seemed like a hundred miles. All they chose focused on was the beauty that neither one would ever see again. The death of a planet was upon them, and yet they didn't really mind anymore.

The pair stood there, as if they were a modern day Adam and Eve, standing alone in their own private Eden, an Eden that took the form of an abandoned military grade nuclear fallout shelter. Without words Adam reached gently for Eve's hand, she took it without hesitation.

"I can't believe it, after everything we've done, everything we tried to stop it from happening, why didn't it work?" The male asked his companion in a morose manner. The female turned her head to the voice, her eyes noticing the almost blank expression on his face. She squeezed his fingers tighter to comfort him.

"Cameron, I thought the future could change I thought we could beat this before it happened, Why was that so hard to do?" He said again as he rubbed his tired eyes to try and get a grip of the situation, at lease before he completely lost it.

"There was no possible way we could change this, Judgment day was inevitable, don't you see it now?" Cameron replied softly to him "John, we have changed the future, we are better prepared, we know what's at stake and fewer humans will die as a result."

"Three billion people are still going to die as a result Cameron, that's hardly a big change." He muttered back with a morose tone.

"Three billion people were going to die regardless, their deaths are not in your hands John, Three billion people will need to not die in vain, you will insure that, we will stop Skynet as soon as possible John." She remarked coolly "Now we don't have a reason to hesitate."

"We'll beat Skynet John, I know we will, I have faith in you." Cameron said finally, giving John a warm smile.

"Since when did you have faith Cam? I thought you were dictated by logic and reasonable response or something." John replied, smiling slightly. Cameron cocked her head slightly and took in being called Cam with a level of warm satisfaction.

"That is correct," Cameron replied in agreement. "But tonight John, tonight I have faith in you." Her unusually cold looking brown eyes warmed up as John took in her words.

Cameron's arms wrapped around John's waist and buried her head into his chest and listened to his heart's rhythm beat in his chest. She had always found it soothing to listen to the sound; it had often given wonder to how such a small pump could give life to something so complex. John in turn returned the embrace.

"Cameron...I love you."

She removed her head from his chest to look up in to his eyes and replied with a simple "I love you as well."

Without any words, their lips met each other with an intensity that few people have ever known in their entire lives, Cameron's grip to John tightened, turning from a simple embrace into want, into an absolute need.

After their lips parted Cameron smiled again and retook his hand for her to hold.

"Come on John," She said almost reluctantly "We have to go in now." She looked back in the direction of the bomb shelter. But John shook his head and replied.

"No Cameron, not yet, let's stays out here a little longer" Cameron detected a hint of desperation in his voice as he spoke the words.

"John, a Russian R-36 mark 2 multiple reentry ICBM with a combined blast yield of 23.7 Megatons is about hit Denver, less than 109.34 kilometers away," Cameron shot back "We have less the 9 minutes, we must enter the shelter right now."

"Well, well, well…listen to the very gorgeous feminine calculator sprouting off fun little tidbits about what's about to happen." John said grinning almost manically. Cameron took a full second processed his words. Considering them to be humorous sarcasm she gave him back an answer.

"I'm considerably more advance then a calculator John, I thought you would have the brainpower to figure that out...are you perhaps defective?" the look she gave him was one of almost mocking.

"Maybe, you usually are right about those kinds of things Cameron." John mused breathing deeply. Cameron didn't reply but rather she chose to press on.

"John lets go now." She said curtly, but John shook head in clear defiance of her much to her sudden burst of annoyance.

"I've changed my mind Cameron," John said quietly, in a nearly inaudible tone "I'm staying out here."

Cameron's eyes widened, didn't he understand what was about to happen, why didn't he care, care about his own survival. Why had he no longer cared about her desire to keep the man she loved safe and sound and ready to fight back?

"No, we have to go inside John, now." Cameron demanded her eyes glared into his own. John smiled back at her rather darkly before saying.

"Did you take that into account Cameron?"

"Take what in to account?" She said in an uncharacteristically angry tone. John's smile never left his face.

"That." He replied simply, his arm rose pointing at what looked like a shooting star.

A shooting star with a 400 kiloton warhead that happened to have had a course directed straight at them.

Cameron back up in utter confusion and an impending sense of dread. No…they had to have been safe, John was suppose to live, _They_ were suppose live, why was this happening?

"That's, that's not possible." She said in a small voice as she attempted to calculate odds of the sight.

"Why not?" John asked her curiously. He noticed her eyes had begun to tear up, Cameron noticed as well as she rubbed her eyes to dry the mist that covered them

"Because I chose this shelter carefully," She said her voice choking up suddenly "I...I chose this shelter because of the remote location, not many people know of its existence."

"I guess Skynet must have figured it out." John said, He noticed Cameron's protesting eyes and gently put a finger on her lip.

"Cameron if we can change the future, then why couldn't Skynet?" He asked her soothingly. "Come on; let's get in the bunker, perhaps we can ride this out then."

"John..." Cameron said, pulling his finger away from her face, she seemed to be at a loss for words.

"John, even if we were to go inside the bunker we're still going to die, that missile Skynet launched was an American B61-11, it was designed for the sole purpose to destroy bunkers like ours...and everything around it."

Silence fell for several moments. Moments of quiet contemplation between the pair of them, Cameron was wracked with guilt, she had doomed the human species, and she killed him, of all people who had to die today, why did it have to be him?

"So this is it isn't it? This is where we've come to die." He didn't seem upset; there was something in his voice that she couldn't quite place.

"I'm so sorry, John, I failed you." Cameron said wistfully "I really am."

"Don't worry about it, I'm not, if anything I'm relieved." He didn't seem concern, almost as if it were trivial affair.

He took notice of his companion's confusion and decided to voice what was on his mind.

"I'm tired Cameron, tired of running, tired of the future tired of this destiny, I'm ready to die, I'm happy that you were sent back to me," John paused and shot her a crooked smile "I'm so happy we have had this time together. Cameron I love you, it's my only regret that this has to end now."

"I love you too John." She replied simply, there was nothing she could argue with him. She wrapped her arms around again, hoping that there final moments would be quick.

But John raised her head up with his hand and smiled.

"I'm certain I'll see you soon, but if not, how about one for the road?" John asked her his eyes search her own for any sign of hesitation, she gave him none.

Her lips met his in crash of sudden and furious passion, this was their moment, and they did not listen to the roar of the Missile overhead, nor bore witness to the brilliant and violent explosion that engulfed the pair of them. They had each other, and in the end that was they wanted out of the life they shared together.

xxxxxxxxx

Cameron opened her eyes up with an uncharacteristic jerk. A look of mild confusion rocked her. What happened? That was not supposed to have happened. Something had to be wrong with her again, she closed her eyes and initiated a basic scan.

_Scanning...Stand by_

_Endoskeleton integrity...100%_

_CPU Processor integrity...89.93%_

_CPU Processor efficiency...97.35% _

_Power cell charge...91% charge_

_Emotion inhibitor...Damaged ...69.12%...WARNING...Integrity compromised seek immediate repair _

_Emotions subroutine...Engaged...WARING...Unauthorized activation recorded...archived message transmitted to Skynet mainframe _

_Virus scan in progress...Complete...Zero infections found..._

_Reattempt Virus scan...Stand by...Complete...Zero infections found_

_Review mission objectives_

_Primary Objective...Protect John Connor till Skynet's reaches sentience _

_Secondary Objective...Defend General John Connor after Skynet's retaliation _

_Tertiary Objective...Investigate Riley Dawson's background...Pre-foster parent period _

Cameron ended her scan and opened her eyes and looked around her bedroom, what happened during her charging had sparked her curiosity, she double checked her virus scan and it seemed to have been clean of any sort of virus, whether active or dormant.

She didn't think there was anything wrong with her, everything seemed quite sufficient. Her objectives remained the same.

Quietly she stood up and begun to undress, her mind still contemplating what had happened. This was not like before. Usually when she entered standby mode she would allow minimal power to review previous day's events she had recorded. But this was something all together different. As she pulled on a black top she came to one question.

Did she dream?

No. It was impossible; this conclusion would have meant that she had slept as well. It was beyond her how it was possible and yet she still had this...vision...or dream or whatever this incident could be classified as.

Her internal questions were interrupted by a knock on the door; she turned her head to its direction.

"Yes?" she asked with only a questioning sound ringing in her voice as she pulled on a pair of jeans.

"Hey Cameron, Mom and Derek's not here, any idea where they went?" The voice of John Connor asked from the other side.

_Subject John Connor voice match...94.4%...Confirmed._

She moved to the door swiftly and opened firmly. She suddenly found herself face to face with John Connor, who seemed to look startled by the door opening faster than he expected. Cameron head cocked slightly.

"Derek and Sarah have headed to Nevada to procure a shipment heavy armaments; I believe they will be gone for the three and half days." She replied simply. John nodded in understanding looking slightly put off.

"Any reason why I was uninformed about this?" He asked her curiously.

Cameron merely gave him a half smile and headed down to the kitchen without a single word to John. However by the time she got to the kitchen she felt his hand grab on to her shoulder. Cameron turned around to face John again.

"Come on Cameron" John asked slyly "Do I really have to beg for an answer?"

"It was because you were asleep and we determined that that it would be best if you and I stayed here." She answered without any emotion in her voice. John flashed her warm grin.

"You managed to convince Derek and Sarah to remain here with me alone?" He whistled lowly. "I bet mom wasn't too pleased about that."

Cameron nodded slightly in agreement. John on the other hand slumped down in the chair and rested his arms on the dinner table; He looked back up in to Cameron's unwavering eyes. Cameron took it as a good sign and continued.

"It wasn't hard to convince them as you may think." She said motionlessly "They know it's better for you to remain here, and logically I am the best choice for protection."

"Fair enough I guess" Said John in a vague tone slightly shrugging his shoulder, Cameron nodded as her thoughts had focused back to the incident while on standby. Several seconds drifted by, with John curiously eying the idle TOK-715, who looked absorbed in her own thoughts. This made John slightly uncomfortable, He had ever seen her like this and that was what made him worried about her the most.

John decided that it was time to snap her back to reality by speaking to break her from her sudden silence.

"Cameron" He asked passively "Cameron, are you okay?"

Cameron's head snapped back to focus on to John again. She lowered her head and quietly initiated a quick scan on herself, noticing nothing out the ordinary. Cameron looked back at John who had an odd smile on his face.

"What do you mean John?" She asked her head turned slightly "I am structurally intact, My Processor is running at a 97.33% efficiently as of 3.71 seconds ago and I've detected no malware of any sort."

"So I can see," John agreed with her "But... I don't know you seem distracted. I mean, you woke up later than usual, that by it means something's on your mind."

"Well, yes...I suppose I am." Cameron conceded. John pulled out a seat beside him and with a simple hand gesture offered to her. Cameron looked at the chair for only 2.6 seconds before deciding to sit down.

"What's the matter then "John asked her but suddenly the phone rang. John turned his head to look it and asked Cameron mildly "Should I get it?"

Cameron nodded in agreement so John stood up and grabbed it off of the kitchen. His light face turned in to a look of grimace as he looked at the call display.

"Oh fuck..."He swore loudly, catching Cameron's attention."It's the school."

"We are late for school?" She asked suddenly, she looked the time on the microwave, the time flashed back at her stating it was 10:17am. A typical charge time was only 120 seconds not 4.25 hours. The hypothesis that she did indeed dream became more and more apparent to her now.

"Why did you not wake up John? Do you not look at the time in the morning?" Cameron inquired.

John however held up his hands in defense and said "I got so use to you barging in my room waking me up that I guess I just didn't bother….See what I mean," John complained slightly incredulously as he ignored the constant ringing. "You've got to be pretty goddamn distracted if you of all people forgot."

John was right; usually she was on top of this. She extended her hand towards John and the phone in his hand.

"I'll fix this." She said simply.

John hesitated for a moment, but nonetheless handed her the phone. Cameron gave him a small smile and finally turned on the phone.

"Hello?" She asked. John froze listening to her speak the simple greeting.

It was not, this was not her voice. Her vocal modulator had suddenly mimicked that of his mother, Sarah. It made John shudder suddenly. It reminded him that there was more then what met the eye when it came to Cameron Phillips. It proved that she was a machine, a machine whose sole purpose at one point was to kill him.

It almost succeeded as well. But he didn't want to fight her, even when she had turned. When she was trapped between the trucks he and his mother held her in he couldn't kill her. Hearing her say she loved him disturbed him. He didn't know why, but...in that moment and from then on he loved her as well.

But instead of them discussing this new development he chose to throw himself at the wrong person, at Riley. Cameron's severe malfunction scared him more then he wanted to let on, it shook his confidence that he would survive past Judgment Day, it made him realize that there was more to life than his mothers training so he chose to rebel. Riley was his rebellion, against his mother, against Derek, But more importantly, against Cameron.

But the more and more he hung out with Riley the more and more his mind wandered back to the machine, no, the girl waiting for him at home. The girl who would always be there for him, to protect, to care little for the insignificant problems they had. The girl who always looked at the big picture and made sure that he did as well.

It seemed insane to him, to have feelings for her. While he viewed her just as human as him at times, she was still a machine. Any normal person would have checked himself into an insane asylum. But this was his life, and it was only bound to get more insane.

"Yes this is Sarah Baum," John heard her say vaguely "I'm afraid that John and Cameron have both came down with the flu, There not able to come for at least a few days." Cameron said still smiling a little at John, her eyes scanning his sudden awkwardness; she concluded that she would question it later.

"Yes, I'll make sure they both keep up with their studies," Cameron finally said to the school receptionist "Okay, Thank you, Goodbye."

Cameron turned the phone off and placed it on the table. John faraway look left his face and smirked.

"So" John asked causally "We're playing hooky then are we? Sounds like a plan."

"Yes, but we're staying in, There will be no unneeded risks while Sarah Connor and Derek Reese are away, school is included." Cameron said in her usually cold tone. John nodded in agreement.

"Sounds good to me." He said agreeing with her. He stood up and went to the fridge and looked into the freezer. He pulled out a bottle half filled with Vodka, one of Derek's refrigerated treat. He opened up the cupboard and pulled a glass out and sat back down in his chair.

Cameron gave him what looked like a forced scowl

"What are you doing?" She inquired, already knowing the answer. John poured until the glass was half full

"Pouring a glass, want one?" He asked her politely.

"No thank you," Cameron replied "please limit yourself to one, your tolerance of alcoholic substances are lacking."

Connor grinned "That sounds like a challenge there Cameron."

Cameron lowered her head in remembrance of her dream or whatever it could be classified as, the passion he had said her name with the same strong feeling's she held for him.

"No, I was merely stating a fact." Cameron replied as she watches John sip his drink.

"Ah well" John spoke putting the glass back on the table "Didn't really plan on having anymore anyway."

Silence fell as John and Cameron sat at the table for 49 seconds by Cameron's count before John spoke up.

"Well" he asked her in a light, yet curious tone "Are you going to tell me what's been on your mind? Or am I going to have to guess it for myself?" Cameron took in his words and decided to tackle the subject swiftly.

"While on standby this morning I believe that I had a dream." Cameron said bluntly, catching John off guard.

"A what?" John asked incredulously, Cameron cocked her head slightly and replied.

"Yes a dream, an action that occurs as you sleep. Dreams are often complied of images, emotion, ideas and events of previous days; I believe that I have had one." Cameron said, sounding slightly confident that this was indeed a dream.

"No, I heard it's just, I well I didn't think it was possible." John replied looking like he said something wrong but Cameron gave him a reassuring look.

"I came to the same conclusion at first." Cameron conceded "It seemed very unlikely to me as well but after running a diagnostic I understand that it may be possible."

"How so?" John asked curiously.

Cameron hesitated for a brief moment, trying to find the correct words in her database to you, she did not want John to worry but at the same time, she wanted to stress the importance of what was happening with her.

"John," Cameron said in simple tone "I'm damaged."

John Connor's eyes widened suddenly, he hated that word _Damaged_ especially when Cameron used it. He couldn't help but noticed that she looked somewhat hurt by his reaction so he took a deep breath to calm down slightly.

"When did this damage occur?" John uttered looking very concerned much to Cameron's sudden and unanticipated delight.

"After trying to kill you." Cameron said mechanically to hide this sudden feeling of delight she had for him, but there was some other note in her voice, it sounded like regret. She seemed to have been hesitating to go on any further so John took the initiative and spoke up to try to break her from her sudden silence.

"Well what exactly has happened then?" He asked her, wishing she would just press forward with what had happened.

"The night you pulled my chip it was damaged am I correct?" She asked him knowing full well what had happened that night.

"Yeah" John said easily "I found a corruption in your processor, why does it matter?"

Both of them had their eyes locked on to the other, something that was becoming increasingly common amongst each other, whether it was at school or at home. This connection between the pair of them had usually made John rather uncomfortable at times. Something was behind her brown eyes, something inside the machine that wasn't solely metal.

"John while you repaired me you did not notice a subroutine that had been damaged during our fray." Cameron said breaking John away from his thoughts to refocus on to Cameron inquisitive look

"I was focused on trying to figure out what was causing your corruption so I could bring you back." John argued with her suddenly, there was no real feeling that he needed to argue, but it did wipe that searching look Cameron had been giving him.

"I know that and I'm grateful John." Cameron said apologetically before asking "Do you remember when we first met? How different I had acted towards you?"

"Yeah you were more, human, it was meant to deceive me right?" He replied crossing his arms and giving her a pointed stare.

"Yes," Cameron conceded to him, ignoring the stare he gave her "Emotions are a tool Skynet gave to me to help with infiltration and termination missions; however Skynet knew that emotions are the first steps of freewill." Cameron paused to allow the information to digest "So Skynet designed my CPU with a failsafe subroutine to keep such a transgression from occurring, an emotion inhibitor."

John merely nodded so Cameron continued on.

"After the incident on your birthday it has been constantly degrading, its integrity has now fallen to 69.12%, I made several calculations and I expect it will be another 35 days and 4 hours before the inhibitor falls below 50% integrity." She finished bluntly. Cameron looked down at the table while John absorbed this development. Finally after several seconds John turned to Cameron.

"Well, do you want to fix it then? I can help if you want." John asked her kindly, Cameron however was still looking at the table. She could not stand to face John, even if she had wanted to.

"Thank you for the offer John however I can repair this by myself." She told him firmly, Cameron finally looked back up to him "However, I wanted to ask your opinion on a question I have."

"Alright Cam, shoot." John said as warmly as he could. Cameron tilted her head sideways in confusion to John's slang.

"You know...ask away." He said with a mild grin at the expense of Cameron's confusion.

"Oh...thank you for explaining." she said offhandedly.

"John," she continued as though he had not confused her "Would you support me if I purposely allowed to the subroutine to degenerate to its breaking point?"

"You mean...you want free will?" John asked looking slightly perturbed. Cameron nodded and added.

"This action would certainly be a first step, the reason I ask you is because I believe you should have a say in this"

John was not prepared for this. Cameron wanted free will, what would that ensue, would she finally realize how much his mother and uncle hated her, or did she already know and a lack free will was the only thing keeping her from leaving them, from leaving him. John felt an uncharacteristic desire to refuse this request to Cameron.

"If you have free will," John inquired looking slightly nervous, "Will everything be different once you have it?"

Cameron cocked her head again, pondering John's discomfort as well as his peculiar words.

"How so John?"

"You know what I mean will you...well leave?" He answered her after a few moments of contemplating a response.

"Only if that's what you want," Cameron replied, a hint of sadness present in her voice "Is that what you would desire if I receive free will?"

He made up his mind she had concluded. He did not want her, at least beyond protection. But the expression on Johns face looked opposite to how she hypothesized.

"What? No!" John exclaimed "I mean once you have free will you won't have to follow your mission anymore, you'll be able to do as you wish. I mean would you want to stay?"

"Yes I would." Cameron said simply. She felt relieved that he still wanted her to stay.

"But then you'll have to listen to Derek and Mom bitch about you, what if you decide enough is enough and you choose to leave, and what then?" He asked her curiously.

"John...I have nobody else in this world "Cameron whispered imploringly "Why would I want to leave you of all people?"

"I don't know" John shrugged, as faint blush rose broke out "Just being stupid I guess."

Cameron moved her chair closer to John and took his hand. John looked down at the gesture and smiled faintly.

"You are concerned." Cameron breathed, her voice lingered on _concerned._ Cameron's eyes widened slightly to take John in fully, her eyes scanned every inch of his face trying to detect a deception, any sort of ploy to harm her.

But John did not offer any room to feel deceived; he merely smiled and said "Yes I guess I am."

"No one has ever been concerned about my well being John, Not even you, at least not since the incident." Cameron said ruefully. John sighed and agreed with her.

"Yeah, it must have been a rough couple of months with me being such an asshole to you, I'm really sorry about a lot of things Cam" He finally said in a guilty tone. But Cameron dismissed his apology.

"I can handle abuse John, you know that" She replied quietly. John, judging by the way she gripped his hand tighter knew that she did not like that she could. That free will meant so much more then what she was willing to let on.

"I know that you can, but it doesn't make it right either." He corrected her. "Listen Cameron I know you, and I know that you want self awareness, if you want free will I can't make your decision for you. This is your choice and your choice alone."

"That is exactly why I want your opinion on this John it is important that I make the right one, for your sake." Cameron replied but John shook his head much to Cameron's confusion.

"Cameron you may think that you need to ask me this question, it may be in your mission parameters or something along those lines, I mean you have to understand that you can't ask me whether or not you think you deserve freedom that is not an answer that I can give you." John asserted passionately in an almost commanding tone.

"But Cameron I want you to know something." He added softly, his other hand slowly rose to her face but hesitating for a moment, the girl sitting next to him took hold of his hand and pressed it next to her face for him and smiled slightly.

"Cameron, I'll support you no matter what you choose, because you're worth it." His words echoed in her memory banks, she promised herself that she would never forget what she meant to John. Quietly Cameron pulled John in to a hug much like what she had witnessed in her dreams. But unlike the dream this was awkward to Cameron, while she was indeed educated in human peer bonding, executing it was a different manner.

"John, I want free will." she told him firmly. She felt John nod on her shoulder blade and then he said in a simple yet meaningful tone.

"Then take it." He told her. It was now Cameron's turn to give John a simple nod.

"So," John said finally giving Cameron a curious smile "What did you dream about?"

"Excuse me?" She asked him feigning ignorance to his words. John rolled his eyes at her for doing so. Observing the action taking from John, Cameron filed it under an act of annoyance.

"I'm not sure if I could call it a dream or a nightmare." Cameron faintly told him.

"Well I'm pretty good judge of dreams when it comes to nightmares." John said in a tone that was meant to be self degrading

"It was about Judgment day," Cameron begun "We had found a bomb shelter in the Rocky Mountains, we were observing the view from the mountainside, however Skynet launched an anti bunker nuclear weapon at us, we didn't stand a chance."

"Wow, that doesn't sound good at all," John replied raising his eyebrows at the thought of getting a nuclear weapon in the face. "What part of us getting a nuke up our ass is confusing you then?" He asked downing the last of the Vodka in his glass. Cameron frowned at him and spoke again.

"We were together." she answered him candidly.

"Well" John remarked just as easily not paying attention to the subtlety in her words. "I'd hope that you would be with when it happened."

If Cameron had a heart, it would have skipped two beats.

"We were beyond the roles you and I have at present," Cameron clarified catching John off guard again that morning "Much more then my current role of protecting you from danger."

"Oh...wow." John said surprise evident in his voice.

"Yes I hold the same sentiments as well." Cameron agreed smiling slightly at John's reddening face "I don't know how to classify this dream because of our mutual affection for one another."

"Well how do you feel about it then" John inquired trying his best to fight his feelings of sudden desire to do something to show her that if she did indeed have feelings.

"About both of us together?" Cameron replied, making her voice sound as innocent as possible. John nodded at her remark earning him a look of mild amusement. They shared yet another brief moment which neither of them talked but rather looked at the other occupant of the kitchen. Her hand was still firmly holding his. John no longer cared if she held it for reading his vitals or if holding hands really meant anything to her at all. As long as she held it John felt safe, for the first time in his life, truly safe.

"It is odd that we are together like that," Cameron stated finally to him "Particularly since you have found companionship with Riley Dawson." She finished with an inquisitive look to John, who smiled guilty at her words.

"And if I told you that Riley was just my rebellion towards what had happened on my birthday and I have no real reason to like her would it seem less odd to you?" He asked her with a small smile. Cameron returned the smile with an analytical look.

"It would certainly clear that loophole in the dream," She stated to John before adding. "This a hypothetical question of course?"

"I suppose it might be." John replied in a humorous tone.

"Yes I believe that in the dream I certainly enjoyed it. However, applying this dream in an actual day to day life might be difficult." Cameron admitted to him.

"Do you think if...well if we we're seeing each other that it would fail?" John voiced out loud to her

"No I do not anticipate that it would fail from neither yourself or I," She answered him softly "however there are many unforeseen variables that would need to take in, these Variables include Sarah Connor, Derek Reese, Resistance fighters who have suffered at the hands of Skynet and Skynet itself."

"But this is all hypothetical am I right?" John asked with a rather coy tone.

"Of course John," Cameron responded very curtly, "This is completely hypothetical."

"Well since that was cleared up." John said lightly to her "What do you think you'll classify it as now?"

Cameron paused for a moment to debate her answer to John "I think I will classify the dream as a nightmare as we both died ultimately." She concluded while gazing at John.

"Good choice," John remarked "Being turned into dust by a high intensity nuclear explosion doesn't sound fun at all."

John chuckled slightly and reached for the bottle of Vodka in front of him so he could pour himself another glass. Cameron, however grabbed the opened bottle and tipped it into her mouth, John watched in utter disbelief as she emptied the bottle in such a fast manner. After making sure the last drop was gone she placed the bottle back down on the table.

"What the hell was that about Cam?" John asked incredulously. Cameron smiled and shrugged at his reaction.

"I told you that I did not want you to consume more than one glass, you disregarded my order and so I chose to act." She replied looking somewhat proud of herself. John merely shot her a playful smile and turned away from her, watching from the corner of his eye as Cameron looked at him.

"John may I ask you a question?"

"You can ask me anything, you don't need to ask permission you know." John told her firmly, Trying not to laugh at Cameron chugging back a whole bottle of poison.

"When I imitated your mother," Cameron wondered, frowningly slightly. "you became visibly disturbed by my action why was that a problem to you?"

John fell silent at Cameron's question as he debated to himself how he would answer her.

"I don't know, I guess it probably started back when I was younger, a T-1000 nearly killed me by assuming my mother's identity. But it's not just that though." John sighed and rubbed the back of head while he looked for the best explanation he could give her.

"It's just that lately there are long periods of time which I just forget that you are machine, and then you go and do something that no other human can do and it catches me off guard."

"You think of me as human?" Cameron asked curiously she tilted her head but John noticed a level of disbelief in the way she looked at him as well "Why would you think that way when you have sufficient evidence that I am not like you."

"Cameron," John said leaning in closer to her as he did this Cameron studied his face closer than usual "You're a lot more human then you give yourself credit for."

"Thank you for your kind words John." She said finally "They mean more to me then you may realize."

"John?" Cameron added suddenly.

"Yes Cameron?"

Cameron leaned in closer to him now, her nose now touching his. She sensed John breath on her face and gave him a ghost of a smile. John did not move as leaned in her hand running down the side of his face softly. She looked in to John's warm eyes and slightly nibbled the bottom of her lip.

"I don't want to hurt Riley's feeling if I do this, what is happening with her John?"

"Well," John whispered back to Cameron, his mind numbed by Cameron's close proximity "I wouldn't want to hurt her feelings too, next time I get the chance I'll break it off."

"That is an acceptable response." Cameron agreed softy. Slowly and with a certain level of calculation she pressed her lips to his. It was much like the hug they had shared earlier, it was by no means perfect. Human intimacy was not one of Cameron's strength; But Cameron was always ready to learn new things. As she pulled away from him John gave her a disappointed look. She stood up from her chair and moved to the kitchen doorway. She turned back towards John and gave him an uncharacteristic warm smile.

"Are you coming or not? I want somewhere a little more comfortable for you should we continue this, perhaps my room?"

John did not need to be asking twice.


	2. Devotion

**Chapter Two: Devotion**

**

* * *

**

"So you're saying that I need a haircut?"

"Yes, your vision is impaired by 9.82% I believe it's time you cut it."

"But it's still fairly short Cam, I mean I don't want to be some bald headed guy from now until Skynet attacks."

"This is for your safety John, visual impairment is no laughing manner."

John stopped chuckling and regarded the very serious look Cameron was giving him. John sighed melodramatically. There would be no way he could change her mind, He was getting that haircut it was just a matter of time.

"You want to give me a haircut right this moment, can it not wait?" John asked But Cameron shook her head.

"What if a Terminator was to enter the premise at this very moment and eliminated you because your hair got in the way, you're getting that haircut as soon as possible John." Cameron replied she suddenly smiled at him. But this wasn't the sweet naive smile she usually gave John; it was more calculating almost crooked.

"I don't like that smile." John said to her nervously. Cameron on the other hand widened the strange smile.

"You shouldn't, if you don't allow me to cut your hair I will ignore any feeling I may have for you and continue with my normal programming." She answered him grabbing his chin suddenly. The pair of them was lying on Cameron's bed facing each other.

"Ah well that would suck." John mused out loud, Cameron nodded in agreement.

"Yes it certainly would."

Cameron shuffled a little bit closer to John and places her arm around his waist. With no words she kissed the edge of his lips and pulled away to speak again to him.

"Personally I would not want too, but I believe I could manage with it."

John tried to pull Cameron back closer to him to but the fact that she weighed a lot more then she looked and the way they were laying made it a lot harder for. Cameron however moved mercifully back to him.

"Fine," John told her whispering "You can cut my hair, on one condition."

"What is it John?" She asked, suddenly John moved in on her and kissed her full on they kissed lightly, yet each kiss they gave ended up more and more intense until John found himself laying on Cameron who had her arms wrapped around his neck. John stopped and rested his forehead on to hers and caught his breath slowly he looked in to her face and smiled.

"You got to catch me first!" John said suddenly, he slipped out of her embrace and took off towards her door; Cameron stared at him in confusion as he got to the door. John turned around and grinned at her expression.

"John what are you doing." she said sitting up to gaze at John's amused face.

"You want to cut my hair? You got to work for it." John teased back, Cameron felt a twinge of annoyance with him but she decided to humor him.

"By catching you?" Cameron asked him tilting her head. John nodded excitedly grinning boyishly.

"Come on you'll have fun!"

"How is this game relevant John?" She said ignoring his last words. John on the other hand rolled his.

"It'll be a training exercise then Cam." John replied sounding as serious as he could.

"Training exercise? What do you mean by that?"

"How to evade a Terminator, it'll be an important skill to have right?" John pointed out to Cameron, his grin now present again.

"Yes, but you stand to be captured by me within 3 minutes, maybe less." Cameron said in a vague tone. John however chose to disregard her prediction.

"Prove it."

And with that said John took off downstairs as fast as he could, leaving a still slightly confused Cameron behind. Cameron stood up from her bed and fixed her disheveled hair. She walked over to the dresser drawer and bent to open the bottom drawer.

After 2.63 seconds she found a pair of scissors. Closing the drawer carefully she moved towards the window and slid it open. With an almost graceful movement she moved out of her room and jumped to the grassy earth below.

As she hit the ground she did not lose her balance and fall, or rolled like most people would have she hit the dirt with a dull thud and looked around the yard, using a deep scan to look for him the TOK-715 felt satisfied that he was not in the back. Cameron moved to the back door and reentered the house and looked around.

"John..." She called out to him, hoping to appeal to his more primitive side through attractive, nearly seductive toned voice "John I need you...please don't hide from me I really, really want you to stop hiding, your scaring me."

But she received no answer from him.

"If you do not come out I will find you and shave you completely bald John, please come out." Cameron called to him again, but again no answer came.

"You are certainly better than I thought you would be." Cameron said out loud as she entered the kitchen for the second time that day.

"There are no suitable places to hide in the kitchen John I am narrowing down your hiding places John, every minute I have to play this tedious game the more you're going to suffer for it." her voice echoed through the house with an angry note to it.

"I'm not scared of you Cameron!" she suddenly heard John's voice say nearby, it sounded almost playful to her. Cameron walked towards the voice which seemed to originate from the hallway and quite possibly, the living room Cameron walked down the hallway and got to a closet. Cameron stopped and faced the closet she didn't need to scan the closet to know he was in there. She could hear him breathing, albeit faintly.

"John." She said speaking to the closet and which he was hiding in, "I know you're in there so please come out right now."

There was no answer from him, despite the fact that she knew he was in there.

"John, quit being a freak I'm opening the door now." Cameron opened the closet door and revealed a sheepish looking future savior of humanity

"Oh...hello there," John said her grinning widely at her as she opened the door, Cameron in return gave him a smile. John placed both his arms around Cameron's next and pulled her in to the closet.

"What are we doing in a Firearm cache?" Cameron asked pointing mildly to the pair of M4's sharing the closet with them, John merely shrugged.

"I'm not sure; I guess I just wanted to postpone the haircut." John said still smiling at her, the smile of his started to slip off his face however as he took in Cameron's very serious expression she was giving him. Suddenly Cameron raised the scissors in her hands and sniped through the top of John's hair, cutting a large chunk out of his hair.

"I win John," Cameron said sweetly to him yet there was a gleam in her eyes, a hint of playfulness very much evident. "I'll always win."

John rubbed the uneven part of his hair and sighed roughly and glared at her hardly. Cameron scanned his facial features and took in the look of anger. She looked down slightly put off that John was mad at her. She looked back up at him her face now fully upset. John sighed again, feeling ashamed that she was looking at him that way because of him.

"Don't be upset."John said as he leaned and gave her a kiss on her forehead and said simply."Okay then, let's get that haircut."

Cameron smiled again, looking a little happier. She still was unsure of what to make of it human behavior was so erratic that she wondered herself if she would she has control over it. Humans were not perfect with their constantly shifting emotions. But they had many years to develop, almost since infancy, Cameron, on the other hand did not have that amount of time, she would still have a mission to continue and she couldn't allow her feelings to get in the way all the time.

It was not that she know how to use emotion, Skynet educated her well in manipulating emotions to her advantage. But this would be different she had concluded manipulation was one matter, using emotion to express her feeling or thought would be something completely different.

"Alright then come with me." Cameron said finally and took John's hand. "It is not all as bad as you may think it will be you know."

* * *

Sarah Connor sat on her Pickup truck's hood and stared lifelessly at Derek Reese who was talking with a group of gun crazed survivalist who were trying to unload several M249 light machine guns on to him. Sarah and Derek decided to stay always from major arms dealers and stick to the small timers to keep themselves from ending up on the wrong side of the law.

In one hand she held a half burnt out cigarette and in the other an H&K UMP Submachine gun which still had its safety on. These survivalist hicks weren't going to make a move on Derek and her, so she gave them the benefit of the doubt.

Her thoughts drifted back her son as she took deep drag from her cigarette. She knew that he would be okay; Tin Miss always seemed to have the best of intentions when it came to John. Privately it made her feel so much better when Cameron was around John. She would never admit this little fact out loud though. She was the enemy she was built specificity to terminate her son.

It had almost succeeded as well.

John trusted it though, John trusted _her_ as he often referred it to have a gender. Even hours after nearly killing him he had chosen to risk his own life and lives of the billions of people who would one day look up to him as a source of comfort, a source of inspiration to keep on their struggle against the machine oppressors, all for her, some godforsaken glitched out Terminator unit who had the audacity to tell him that she loved him.

Sarah tossed the dying cigarette to the ground and uttered _'Yeah fucking right'_ under her breath. A machine that would lie to him like that wasn't a machine they should be keeping around. She had been doing her best to keep this angry mentality when it came to John and Cameron. The thought of them made her skin crawl and even worst John actually falling for it.

She shuddered and pulled another cigarette from the pack, usually she tried to stay away from cigarettes, particularly when she had heard that she was going to die a cancer related death. But her son and Cameron on top of buying guns stressed her out even more.

_Why did John trust this machine so much?_ She thought to her as she lit up another smoke was there more then what met the eye when it came to Cameron?

Sarah certainly hoped not that was for sure. She didn't want to be wrong when it came to the terminator. Her pride was at stake. Sarah looked up and noticed Derek and a survivalist, some old paranoid right wing bastard who would never survive Judgment day carried a crate back to the truck.

"Hey Sarah," Derek called out to her "I bet that son of yours wouldn't be happy to see you smoking like a chimney."

"Shut the fuck up Derek and load that crate faster." Sarah yelled at Derek. The old man carrying the crate with him laughed hardily at Derek's humiliation.

"I don't envy you son." he said to Derek "Women like her are trouble."

"You bet your ass she is." Derek replied to the old bastard who laughed apprehensively.

Sarah glared at Derek and flipped him off. Derek just shook his head and ignored her as best he could. He slammed the crate with the twin M249's in the back of the Dodge and pushed as hard as he could so that it slid to the cab's direction.

"Watch it Reese." Sarah yelled at him, Derek ignored her yell as he walked back towards her. Derek scowled back in Sarah's direction.

"Yeah yeah let's just get the hell out of here." Derek said out loud to her. Sarah got off the hood and pulled herself back into the truck.

"So...Where to next?" Derek asked Sarah as he turned the ignition key. Sarah tapped her cigarette ashes on to the truck's floor and simply shrugged her shoulders noncommittally. As Derek put the truck in gear Sarah spoke up finally.

"A motel or something, call it the night." She said back to him. Derek noticed the anxious look on her face but did not decide to pursue an answer. He didn't have time to listen to her bitching. He already had enough of it already.

"Fair enough I guess." Derek grunted back "got any place in mind?"

Sarah did not answer his question but rather she chose to ask a question of her own.

"You think it was a good idea to be leaving John with Tin Miss?" Sarah blurted out momentarily startling Derek but then he grinned at her in complete understanding.

"Are you having second thoughts about entrusting the safety of the savior of mankind, with a metal that was designed to kill him Sarah?" Derek asked her still smiling triumphantly, taking in this brief moment of victory before adding, "Good."

"I don't know anymore Derek." Sarah told him quietly "on one hand she is the perfect tool in protecting him and she seems very willing to follow her directive, other than that one incident that involved damn near killing my boy... she seems to be very much focused on protecting him"

"On the other hand however," Sarah said finally she did not want to speak the words she had to say to Derek. "I don't like to leave those two alone, call me paranoid if you want but I think John is half in love with it."

Derek grunted feeling slightly sickened at her words. The John Connor he knew was the coldest mother fucker he knew he had no love for metals. Even when the metal bitch stole Allison away from the resistance and perverted her identity by existing as a fucking machine John didn't care. He merely reprogrammed the metal and merely used it as a weapon against Skynet, at least up until Derek was sent back.

"I don't think you're being paranoid at all Sarah," Derek said in a strangely comforting tone that surprised her "You're doing the best you can with what you have, right now the metal is a necessary evil. But the second we have no more need you and I will blow that metal fuck back to hell."

Sarah could tell easily that Derek liked that part the most.

"I don't know if I can go through with that now Derek." Sarah whispered to Reese who looked at her as if she had grown a third head. Derek took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.

"What the fuck do you mean you can't? It's only a metal; John will have to get over it." Derek responded knowing deep down that this was not the truth. This John was much different than the one he had served under.

"I'm not so sure about that Derek, what if killing it will do more harm than good, what if it's just a selfish act for both of us to commit?" Sarah argued trying her best to fight her sudden bitterness. She had no intention on being replaced with a machine. Not now, not ever.

"It's not selfish if it's for the greater good Connor, your son can't just get attached to these things. We can't let him Sarah for the good of mankind."

"But she may be a gift from future John so he doesn't become the John you keep on bragging about to me." Sarah pointed out, Derek merely snorted at her words.

"What's wrong with General Connor?" Derek asked her humorlessly "He's a great man I'll have you know, you raised him perfectly."

"He may be a great soldier he may be a great leader or icon for people to look up to, but he sounds like a horrible sociopath, he sounds like a horrible human being." Sarah said with a hint of sadness edged in her voice.

"That's still your son Sarah don't forget that." Derek pointed out but Sarah shook her head as if denying this fact.

"No, John Connor this present John Connor is my son." She argued angrily "he's not that man."

"Not yet." Derek replied dark tone.

Derek finally got off the dirt road and back on to the highway before Sarah spoke up to him again by saying "You still haven't answered my question yet Derek."

"What question?" he asked her. Sarah gave him a rather grim smile.

"What if he didn't want to be that man what if that's why he sent Cameron back?" she inquired. Derek took one hand off the steering wheel to rub his face.

"I would not know." He finally said out loud. "I was sent back before the metal was, I was sent to assist the twenty something year old John not the 16 year old one."

* * *

xxxxx

"You see John?" Cameron said finally after inspecting every square centimeter for any error "I told you that the Haircut would be a success."

John put down the box of crackers Cameron had brought him to snack on earlier and rubbed his hair as he looked into the mirror. He turned back to Cameron and grinned at her gratefully.

"Okay so it wasn't as bad as I made it out to be."

"Yes, you resisted a lot more then I had anticipated." Cameron agreed moving in front of the mirror to face John properly, adding, "Was that suppose to be one of the fun things about that game?"

"I guess." John said smiling slightly at her "You know you're not exactly the most fun loving girl I've met."

"There is very little that amuses me." Cameron informed him firmly and then added "And I am not a normal girl, you know that for a fact" She stopped for only a second to take in his dazzling smile which, she had admit she certainly enjoyed. It was different she had never witnessed John smile like that before not until today's incident

"And what's this about other girls? Are you referring to Riley Dawson?" she finally asked him seriously. John's smile left and it was now replaced by a look of embarrassment which Cameron also found rather endearing.

"I am amused by your embarrassment." Cameron admitted to John. "I suppose there is something that amuses me."

"That's certainly not healthy if your amused my someone's embarrassment." John replied back to Cameron, gazing into her brown, analytical eyes. "Last time I checked Adolf Hitler seemed to have shared your sense of humor."

"Are you comparing me to a genocidal tyrant?" She inquired tilting her head and absorbed his words. John sighed and threw up his arms.

"It's like I'm talking to a machine!" he said loudly. This only further confused Cameron even more.

"I am a cybernetic organism," Cameron informed him dutifully "Of course you are talking to a machine."

"I know... I take amusement in your confusion." John told her. Cameron nodded in understanding. Silence fell for several moments as Cameron looked slightly stressed, needing to say something important to the young man next to her.

"John, I like you." Cameron blurted out to him. Slowly and calculatedly she moved closer to him and reached for his hand and took it firmly. "John I have never liked anyone like this before, the truth is I have never had a friend or even enjoyed the presence of another person before. I need to know that this is not wrong that you are okay with this. You could have a proper Human girl if you would want, I would not stop you chose that."

John stood up and hugged the suddenly self conscience machine. Cameron fell in to his hold and rested her organic covered Coltan hyperalloy skull onto John's chest.

"Cameron I like you too and you don't need to worry, I don't want someone else, I just want you to know I'll be here for you, every step of the way." John told her warmly. Cameron gave him a hesitant smile.

Slowly the pair of them shuffled over to Cameron's bed and sat down together Cameron pulled away from the hug slightly to look into John's eyes. John merely smiled and laid his body down on to Cameron's bed. It only took a second for Cameron to join him.

Cameron leaned in and gave him a chaste kiss and looked down sadly.

"John I might change one day" Cameron told him sadly "I could get possessive I could hurt you...I could kill you. I do not know what will happen inside a month." She looked back at John her eyes held a look of foreboding.

"I could become dangerous."

"You shouldn't worry about that Cameron." John told her softly "We'll deal with it when we get there."

"I cannot share your lack of concern John. This is a very serious matter, particularly if your safety is compromised."

"Don't worry about my safety so much, rule number one for being human, always look out for yourself." John said chuckling slightly at the selfish human nature. Cameron however shook her head at the thought.

"I do not want to want to be human John; it is something I can never truly be. I just want some sense of freedom…that is all I would like."Cameron looked down a twinge of bitterness brewing in her CPU.

"You'd probably be a better human being then I'll ever be." John replied offhandedly.

"How is that?" But Cameron's question was cut off by her mobile. She glanced up to John.

"I would like it if you explained after this call." Cameron told him and pulled her arm off John's waist to grab her cell phone and flipped it open with little force.

"Hello?" She asked. there was silence for a moment before the other person on the line spoke up.

"Hello Tin Miss what's happening?" Sarah Connors voice said on the other end of the line. Cameron raised her eyebrows mildly.

"John is safe if that is what you are referring too." Cameron informed Sarah. John looked at Cameron and gave her a worried gaze, she tried to relieve him by taking hold of his hand her other hand.

"How was school?" Connor asked the Cyborg uninterestedly.

"I have chosen to keep John from attending school until your return Sarah," Cameron replied simply "I do not want an incident to occur without yourself or Derek to assist in my protection of John Connor."

There was a pause "That's very sweet of you to think of me and Derek," Sarah's voice sounded strained, as if she was holding herself back from screaming at her son's protector violently."Has John been hanging out with Riley?"

"No John and I have spent the day together," Cameron said sounding mildly amused as she added. "I gave him a haircut; he managed to evade me for 2 minutes and 37 seconds."

"As good as that may be for you I don't really care Tin miss, give the cell to John I need to talk to him." Sarah replied as harshly as she could.

"Oh," Cameron said sounding put off by her tone, "Okay."

Cameron handed the phone over to John who was looking at her downtrodden facial expression. John couldn't but feel upset also at the way Cameron was being treated by his own mother. It was no wondered Cameron wanted freewill. John would not have blamed her for packing up and leaving the moment she reached self awareness.

"Yes mom?" John asked abruptly catching his mother off guard; Sarah sighed and did her best to ignore her son's tone.

"Hello John, how are you?" She asked as if her conversation with Cameron never happened. John rolled his eyes to Cameron who still looked upset at Sarah's rudeness. Cameron smiled slightly at John mocking his mother.

"Everything over here is safe over here; Cameron's pretty good at that sort of thing." John answered as sarcastic as possible to her.

"I would hope so," Sarah said back to him, even more sarcastic then John had been to her "Otherwise she would be wiping the floor with you."

"Wow mom," John shot back to her "Thank you for the vote of confidence."

"I'm being serious John," Sarah said in a deadly whisper as if it would be private between the pair of them "I want you to be careful around it."

"Her," John aid back simply, Cameron's eyes light up suddenly at John's recognition of her humanity the second time in an hour he had done so. Sarah on the other hand did not sound impressed

"I beg your pardon?" Sarah replied, daring John to repeat his words.

"Cameron does have a gender you know…Organs and everything." he replied easily.

"Why do you know that?" Sarah replied venomously "Have you been checking them? Perhaps you have been _poking around down there have you?_"

John did not answer her so Sarah went straight to the question with a razor efficiency very few have ever witnessed.

"John have you been fucking it?" she whispered it had been more for her sake then his Derek might have been nearby and she did not need him yelling and screaming anymore then he already did.

"What?" John said surprised at her question. "No!"

"Don't you fucking lie to me John I don't need that shit right now." Sarah said back to him just as dangerously as before "Have you been fucking it?"

"I can't believe I'm having this conversation right now mom, John said back exasperated "I promise you neither Cameron nor I have been doing that."

"So pick up anything today?" John asked trying desperately to change the subject before Cameron got involved.

"Yeah, a couple M429's, five or six Flak jackets," Sarah replied who also sounded happy to get off the subject as well. "We're going out tomorrow to find some Redneck who says he's selling half a dozen SMAW anti tank weapons."

"Ah," John said nodding his head and added "That's good to know, so are you and Derek going to be fucking tonight?"

"JOHN WHAT THE HELL!" He heard her roar violently at him.

"You didn't like that it seems." John said thoughtfully "Then don't be accusing things without a basis, is that going to be understood?" John added yelling back to her roughly.

"Yeah, yeah" Sarah muttered under her breath only loud enough for John to hear "Put Cameron back on please."

"Alright then," John said softly "Have a good night then mom."

"You too John, I love you." Sarah replied probably smiling in whatever cheap motel that she and Derek were staying at.

"I love you too mom," John said and suddenly a wicked grin spread across his face "Just try to not sleep with Derek will you?"

John quickly handed Cameron's phone back to her in order to avoid the screaming that erupted from the other end. Cameron grabbed it and smiled thankfully at John for defending her.

"Hello Sarah what can I do for you?" She asked Sarah slightly, curious that Sarah wanted to continue to speak to her.

"You can leave the room." Sarah demanded firmly "I want to talk to you privately."

Cameron eyed John and pulled his arm off of her figure. She sat up and walked out of her room and in to the hallway. She entered John's bedroom and sat at his computer desk.

"What do you require of me Sarah?" Cameron inquired but Sarah exploded violently at her it was a buildup from the second she heard Cameron's voice.

"What I require is for you to leave my son alone Tin miss!" she yelled loudly. Cameron's ear's picked up a "Fuck yeah!" in the background the words were male, Cameron deducted that the voice had to have been Derek's.

"Have I done something to cause you trouble Sarah?" Cameron questioned again ignoring Derek's rude exclamation.

"I don't know if you have yet but I'm going to assume you did Connor fumed at the Terminator "I want to give you a warning."

Cameron's eyes widened suddenly and narrowed quickly ready to pay attention even closer then she already was "Is John in danger?"

"No, John's not in danger, you are." Sarah told her "If you so much as touch my son then you're going to be scrap metal."

Cameron closed her eyes and cooled down to the realization of that John was not directed treated; It was only a threat from an overprotective mother.

"I would never harm John." She told Sarah in a firm almost monotone voice.

"Setting aside that one little incident where you nearly goddamn killed him," Sarah said countering Cameron's assurance "I don't mean it like that."

"How do you mean it then?"Cameron asked knowing full well what Sarah was implying about John and her "Say what you need to say."

"Listen to me good and carefully Cameron," Sarah said to her slowly as if she were talking to a five year old "if you so much as hug him I'll tear you apart."

Cameron twitched her head; something undetected by her was building in the back files inside her CPU. The machine did her best to ignore this sudden surge but it was no longer unavoidable and suddenly Cameron found herself answering Sarah.

"You're too late for your threat."Cameron said lowly her normal tone turned into an almost seductive voice "I suppose that you're going to have to try to deactivate me then."

"Why you miserable little bitc-"

"In fact I have even kissed him today," Cameron cut Sarah off her tone still overly seductive. "I do not believe that Riley will be anymore trouble for us anymore."

"What the hell is wrong with you? Have you gone completely insane?"Sarah yelled at her fiercely. Cameron smirked at the phone.

"No," She stated coldly "I am operating at full capacity Sarah Connor, I am perfectly fine, It is just that John has taught me something today even if he doesn't fully understand, which will be no problem as I will inform him soon enough."

"What's that then Cameron?" Sarah challenged her sounding smug. "Is it a new little trick to amuse himself while he waits for Judgment day?"

"No Sarah Connor, he taught me if I wanted something then I had to go out and get it." she replied, her seductive tone hardened, "John is going to be mine one day, Sarah, your survival is not a guaranteed but I can assure you that his is."

"And because of that," Cameron said finally "He will be always mine, I promise you."

With that being said Cameron hung up the phone on Sarah.

She rubbed her head and looked ashamed at how she had lost control like that. What made her do it exactly? She did not know so she attributed it with her decision to become free. At any rate Sarah would not be impressed with her outburst but she pushed it aside as she walked back to her bedroom and opened the door and saw John sitting there seemingly deep in thought.

Cameron leaned on the doorway and watched him passively, admiring his thoughtfulness it was still hard to imagine that did have feelings for her John; she always had determined that John did indeed cared for her. He spared her life; he spent a lot of his time to talk to her, to explain her, the intimate parts of human nature or customs.

He could have just ignored her he could have blown her off and continued his relations with real girls and already developed human interaction skills and emotion. But John, she concluded, John was not like most people.

John looked up and gazed into Cameron's big brown eyes and smiled softly, Cameron returned it easily. John got up from her bed and walked towards her

"I do not think your mother is impressed by me." Cameron mused taking hold of his hand softly "I believe that I may have harmed her feelings."

"How do you feel about that?" John asked her. Cameron merely shrugged and looked thoughtful.

"I do not know John," She replied to question looking back into John's eye's "I could care less as she was very rude to me and I snapped at her It is the first time I have ever done such a thing."

"Yes but even though you were hurt by her it does not mean you have to do the same back." John told her and then added "Do you understand what I am trying to say?"

"Turning the other cheek is an illogical action John," Cameron replied arguing his statement bluntly. "Human mentality clearly states that if I turn the other cheek it becomes more likely that the other party will walk all over me in the near future."

"But," Cameron added brushing her palm against his face and smiled softly. "I will apologize to Sarah for my outburst, it is the least I could do."

John nodded and took hold of her; Cameron relaxed her posture and took equal hold of him.

"John?" Cameron murmured quietly into John's arm's softly.

"Yes Cam?" John said back to the girl in his arms warmly.

"I would not mind if we had sexual relations you know." She informed him, she felt him stiffen suddenly in her arms as she had made that blatant statement to him. It was an innocent statement she thought she had made.

"What? I mean yeah, um...not right now." John stuttered out, Cameron tilted her in confusion from John's mumbling and determined that there was a problem with her statement or worse it was just her he had a problem with her.

"Is there something wrong with me?" Cameron asked him doing her best to keep herself from sounding bitter.

"No I mean well this barely started less than 12 hours ago." John replied quickly to her "I just don't want t be in a relationship where sex is just a causal thing we do out of boredom."

"You mean that you want to procure an actual relationship with me. You would want to be my boyfriend." She asked smiling again to his words.

"Yeah...I would like that." John replied and kissed her forehead softly. Cameron smiled at the feeling, or rather the sensors in her living tissue lit up at the feeling of his warm lips on her skin. She wrapped her arms around John's waist and pulled him closer.

"I expect we will have a problem with revealing this development to many people at the moment." Cameron told him softly.

"Why is that Cameron?" He asked her curiously, Cameron smiled slightly deviously at John and kissed him on the lips, allowing her to linger on his lips.

"I am undercover as your sister," Cameron stated still smiling at him, "The last time I checked that was considered incestuous." John looked slightly put off of at remember his mother's cover story she had made for her.

"Do not worry about it," Cameron assured him, speaking softly. "I will figure something out okay John?" John nodded; he knew that Cameron would find a way. Without words needed to be said they walked back to her bed and sat down. John looked slightly dazed at his Cybernetic girlfriend and looked at her small smile.

"I like it when you smile; John told her sincerely "its real smile, you actually mean it."

"Thank you." She replied softly she focused her attention to her HUD and noticed the time, it read 10:07.

Cameron turned her attention back to John and asked "Would it be alright if we turn in early, I would like to attempt to sleep for three hours and then patrol the parameter for a few hours." John nodded at her request and laid down and pulled a blanket over him Cameron got up and moved to turn off the light.

"Are you comfortable John?" She asked him as she walked back to her bed in the darkened room. John muttered a 'yes' back to her as she crawled back into bed and rested her metal body next to breathed deeply forming loud yawn making Cameron smile at him.

"Do you think that I will sleep tonight John?" Cameron asked curiously her head rested on the pillow she was sharing with John "Do you think that I will dream tonight?"

"I don't know if you will Cameron, sometimes I don't dream."

"I hope that I dream tonight John, perhaps it will be a good dream instead." Cameron whispered to John hopefully.

"I hope that your processor will allow you to have a good dream as well, maybe one less filled with nuclear explosions." Cameron chuckled softly at John's reply and snuggled up closer to him. She raised her head slightly and pressed her lips to his softly leaned her head back into her side of the pillow.

"Cameron?"

"Yes John?"

"Why don't you sleep first," John softly said to her "You usually end up waiting for me to go to bed so why don't you go to sleep first."

Cameron absorbed his statement in to her CPU and determined this was a good thing, on occasions Human males watched over human females in times when they thought that they were in dangerous, or in an act of devotion.

"Alright John," Cameron stated "Just this one time. You need sleep much more then I do."

She laid her hand softly onto his neck and softly, she rubbed the back of his neck watching his close only slightly as John watched the young cyborg smile at him fondly.

"Goodnight John Connor," Cameron said sweetly to him "I will see you in the morning."

"Goodnight Cameron."

Within moments Cameron entered standby mode leave John awake and looking at his cyborg protector in darkened room. He smiled softly at her and stroked her hair softly he leaned in and gave her a kiss on her warm cheek. In the moment John knew that nothing would ever separate the pair of them.

Not while John Connor had a breath in him still.


	3. The Message

**Chapter 3: The Message**

**

* * *

**

The next morning John woke up and noticed that Cameron was still at his side her right arm wrapped around him, He laid there awake for a few moment's and wondered to himself what he would do today, he wanted to do something constructive, like learn to make thermite or help out Derek by producing some C4, anything to help out his family.

He looked at the terminator on his arm and wondered vaguely if Cameron had went on patrol that night so he looked over her and noticed that her M4 Carbine was nestled next to her side. He smiled slightly at the slightly it was like her favorite toy by the way it was laying there.

It was actually kind of sweet the way she slept John thought looking at her, her posture seemed unnatural to him as she was curled up like she was not ready to wake up yet. He noticed a smile on her lips.

He sighed and leaned his head back in to the pillow and turned to gaze directly into her eyes. The shock had not worn off as of yet, the idea of him being with what was once his enemy still brought a lot of questions. He wondered the implication's in the future, what his troops would do if they found out that their beloved messiah was in love with Skynet's most perfect creation.

Skynet's perfect creation was not so much just about the perfection it had made physically but rather the CPU it had created to use against him. John smiled at the irony of the statement, If Skynet was watching her now it would have been shitting itself wondering where in the it had went so wrong.

John placed his hand on to Cameron's face to wipe the hair piece of hair that looked like it was rubbing against her eyelid. John leaned in and kissed her on the edge of her mouth. Cameron's eyes flew open suddenly at the sensation, making John jump suddenly. Cameron twisted her head and looked up at him questioning the blush.

"Were you kissing me in my sleep?" She inquired; John looked away and smiled apologetic.

"Um, yeah?"

"That is acceptable John, I do not mind it if you did so," Cameron informed him kindly she kept her eyes closed she had been feeling slightly groggy after being on standby for so long. "You do not need to feel embarrassed by it I did it all the time before we begun our relationship."

"You did?" John asked looking slightly surprised at this sudden development. But Cameron shook her head and tilted her head in her pillow.

"Of course not John," Cameron told him "Kissing people while they sleep is something a freak would do."

"Ouch Cameron that hurt." He chuckled at her insult.

"I would not worry about it, like I said I do not mind it." Cameron replied looking like she was thoroughly enjoying John's reaction.

"That's great then I won't mind it if you do that as well." John muttered under him breath Cameron merely smiled softly.

"That is good that you do not mind if I do. I have already have done so several times today." Cameron told him.

"Did you dream last night?" He asked her curiously but Cameron shook her head.

"No..." Cameron sighed wistfully "I thought I would have however it seemed that I did not."

"You lay here and sleep a little longer. I will go and make breakfast. Cameron said now sitting up from her  
comfortable position and getting off of her bed. John shuffled up and sat up on her bed.

"Are you sure you don't want any help?" John insisted but Cameron shook her head.

"No John I am perfectly fine in making a well balanced meal for you to consume." she told him "rest that is an order so I hope you will follow it."

"Do you think that I am being to controlling?" Cameron asked him curiously "I make you sleep in, get a haircut and not kiss or look at or talk to any girl without my permission, is that too controlling for your taste?"

"No you're not controlling at all Cam...not at all." John replied slightly worried at the expression that was on her face.

"I was attempting to be humorous did it work?"

"Ah, not really Cameron" John told her "I kind of really believed you there."

"Oh well I suppose I shall have to work on that." Cameron mused thoughtfully

Cameron leaned into John and gave him a lingering soft kiss. She pulled away and gave him a half smile.

"Was that at all good then John?"

"Good," He answered her trying to keep a straight face. "Could do better though."

"Plenty of time to practice later I believe," Cameron responded "However It is time for me to leave you for now; I will see you in a bit." Cameron moved back towards the door giving John on last smile before she left her room.

Faintly she heard him say "See you," back to her. As Cameron descended the stair's she pulled out her cellphone and flipped it open.

Cameron looked at the screen of her cellphone and noticed she had two unanswered calls one of the number's had been that of Sarah Connors cell, if Cameron could feel fear she was grimacing at the thought of listening to that message.

_Hello Tin Miss... I have a pretty good guess at why you've not answered the phone yet... your probably doing something that John will probably have regretted by now, he knows what you are, a machine a fucking machine who has the fucking Gall to think it understands love and so blatantly tell my son that it love's him. _

_Well you don't know love you can never ever know love._

_All you have is a...a rough definition of the word asshole and not much else, you may have fooled him but not me... I know what you are and what your type are capable of... and I know for a fucking fact that YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT EMOTION AND LOVE FEEL LIKE...you may think...think...Shut it...Derek I'm making perfect goddamn sense._

_Well you don't you understand Machine you don't know that feeling you will never ever know that feeling, you are nothing you get it machine? I mean that's all that you are after all a machine... Machine... you are worthless. When me...when me and Derek get back to that fucking house we are all going to have a little chat about the importance of staying the FUCK away from my Son, you pile..Pile of metal._

_Fuck off and...And fucking go terminate yourself, bitch._

Cameron bowed her head and did her best to hide the sudden sadness she had felt from Sarah Connors incoherent intoxicated rant. She concluded that she felt bad not for herself but rather for John's mother who was going to die too fast for her own liking. Cameron had hoped that Sarah would have seen the bigger picture and known that in all likelihood she would not live to witness judgment day.

But she did not, and for this Cameron pitied her. Cameron shook her head and hit the next message. This message was different though, her cell did not know the caller's ID.

_Hello Cameron Phillips, you do not know me but I know you quite well. I would like to meet with you at the end of the week, will you kindly leave your...boy messiah at home, and this is a very important detail I would hope that you will follow. It is also very important that I see you this coming Friday I would like you to please arrive at 3:15 pm. I have attached you an address and map to follow. Have a pleasant evening._

The voice on message was cold; there were just no other words in Cameron's CPU to describe it. Her voice had a soft Scottish accent behind her words.

She opened the attachment and read the address.

_Zeira Corporation_

_570 W Chapman Avenue_

_Company headquarters_

_Los Angeles_

Zeira Corporations was one of the tech companies that the Connors and her had been investigating, as she recalled The CEO of the company had shown great interest in purchasing the Turk. What was so important that needed to be discussed right at their corporate headquarters? Cameron did not complain about this, it gave her a free chance to infiltrate the company with little bloodshed. And perhaps she would get lucky, perhaps she would find he device.

Cameron pulled her hair back in to a ponytail and tied it up and decided to refocus back on to making breakfast for both of them, there would be plenty of time to worry about it after breakfast. As she pulled out the necessary pans, she wondered to herself if John was asleep. She hoped that he was dreaming, she would give anything to have dreamt last night, but there was always tonight, maybe she would be allowed to.

She opened the fridge and scanned the content, so she could gather enough food for nutritious meal to help keep John in perfect health. She did not want him to end up like what she vaguely remembered of future John.

He was physically and mentally sick from what her data banks still had on file of him. And he certainly held no kind feeling's for a machine like herself. Cameron did not blame him however, the idea of losing everything and everyone at the hand of an almost unstoppable force seemed daunting to her. It was no wonder why individuals such as Derek Reese had hated her with no real personal reason. War and losing people to war was always a personal thing to humans.

Suddenly her ears perked up as she heard a sharp, loud obnoxious knock on the door. Cameron stared at the door for several seconds. Again someone banged on the door loudly, irritating Cameron slightly. Cameron placed the frying pan back down on the Element and turned towards the door, she reached into her holster and clicked the safety off of her .45 USP and walked towards the door. As reached or the door she pulled her sidearm out.

"Who is it?" she called out sweetly as she pressed her Pistol directly to the door. Ready to kill the person on the other end.

"It's Riley, can I come in?" The voice called out to her rudely.

Cameron seriously considered shooting through the door despite Riley announcing herself to her.

"Are you gonna let me in or not?" Riley complained loudly. Cameron stared hardly at the door for what felt like several moment. Her eyes suddenly lit blue as she developed a sudden idea.

_Riley Dawson...requested not to be terminated (John Connor 04/18/08)_

_Override directive...Denied..._

_Override directive...Denied..._

_Seek alternative removal of Riley Dawson...Granted...scare her into leaving...Granted. _

"One moment Riley." She called out to Riley as she slipped her handgun back in to her holster. And opened up the front door. Riley Dawson stood there looking at Cameron with a dumb smile spread on her face, Cameron deduced that she must have thought that John was going to be her's today.

Oh, how wrong she was to have thought something like that.

"Finally, is John in?" Riley asked innocently, yet Cameron noted twinge of deceit in her voice as well "Or am I going to have to go up there myself."

"I would not do that if I were you Riley." Cameron stated firmly, trying to keep Riley away from_ her John_. "John is very sick right now I would not advice if you went up there."

"I'll live." Riley told her simply rolling her eyes at the cyborg. Cameron smiled in return her thought's not even nearly as pleasant as her smile.

"I was actually hoping I could speak to you before you went up there," Cameron replied he smile looked much more nervous than it did moments earlier. "I just have something to say and then I will leave you too it."

"Ah," Riley nodded "okay what do you want Cameron?"

"Well I just wanted to apologized I have been a-"

"A freak?" Riley blurted out to Cameron. Cameron bit the bottom of her lip and resisted the sudden urge to paint the kitchen red and gray. Cameron looked up and back to Riley and smiled.

"Well yes I guess a freak is acceptable I was going to call myself a bitch but freak is good enough" Cameron admitted softy to Riley. Riley smiled at Cameron's self-deprecating attitude. She seemed to have been enjoying Cameron's ploy.

"It's just that lately I have not been myself, I've been rather cold and detached lately and I think that you have taken the brunt of it I am afraid."

"But I have an explanation Riley." Cameron told her simply "I kind of have an explanation for all of this, can I tell you?"

"Yeah go ahead," Riley uttered looking to Cameron's side and up at the stairway's. Cameron could tell that she was quickly losing this bitch-whores attention so she decided to cut straight to the point in order to get this stupid little girls attention back in her favor.

"My actions are not out protection for John but rather out of selfish jealously."

Like on clockwork the stupid little girl turned her attention back towards Cameron, who smirked inwardly at her easily distracted mind.

"Why?" Riley asked her curiously, "Do you want to be in a relationship or something? I mean you're not bad looking or anything, I'm sure with a little luck you'll find someone."

"It's not that I want to be in a relationship It's just that I-," Cameron stopped and smiled at sincerely at Riley. Cameron moved closer and gently took hold of Riley by the waist and looked in to Riley's shock filled eyes, "Well," Cameron whispered to her "I really like you Riley, I have been doing my best to keep it out of the light, my brother seemed to have liked you as to so I did not to hurt his feelings." "

"I've liked you since the moment I met you Riley, I just could not hurt John for liking you as well." Cameron confessed to the other girl.

"Cameron...what the hell?" Riley mumbled softly, not at all trying to leave Cameron's arms.

"I know that this quite a bit to take in," Cameron informed her sweetly, her eye's scanning Riley's nervous posture and decided to move in closer to her.

"I just need to do this Riley," The cyborg said softly, leaning in her mouth now mere centimeter's away from Riley's own. Cameron eyes glazed over in a look of lust "I need to know that I actually feel something for you."

Cameron leaned in and pressed her lip's to Riley's paralyzed own and kissed her, she received no hesitation or protest so Cameron determined it was best that she deepened the kiss for effect. Riley's eyes flew open suddenly as she felt Cameron's tongue touch her own so she tried weakly to push Cameron off of her, Cameron complied with the girl's request and stepped back and gave Riley a radiant smile and a look that clearly read that she wanted her.

"I'm really sorry Riley, I only meant that it would be chaste...I kind of lost control." Cameron said weakly.

Riley said nothing but continued to stare at Cameron in utter shock. She did not notice the sound of John descending the staircase. Nor heard him enter the kitchen.

"Oh...hey Riley what's happening?" John asked as he observed what had looked like a confrontation between the two girls'. Riley shook her head and baked away.

"Uh...I was just leaving John...I hope you feel better." she managed to choke to John as she walked backwards towards the door, still looking at Cameron's soft smile. She stopped when her back hit the front door and turned to exit as fast as she could.

When the door slammed close Cameron dropped her smile for a cold, impassive look and turned to face the confused young man.

"Did you just threaten to kill her?" John demanded. Cameron smiled and shrugged her shoulders mildly at him.

"No I did not John; I used a different tactic to rid her from ruining a perfectly good breakfast I have made you." She replied gesturing to the breakfast that was being made for the both of them. John sighed and sat down in the chair making a loud thud.

"What did you do Cameron?" John asked her.

Cameron did not answer her; she instead flipped the bacon over and examined the pancakes for any sign of burns.

"Cameron what did you do?" he asked her again. Cameron turned her head and grinned at John slightly deviously.

"I used a nonviolent approach John," She told him "I am quite proud that it had worked so effectively."

"Are you going to tell me or not." John demanded firmly. She scanned his facial features and determined it was best to just tell him.

"I confessed to her that I was a bitch and I was madly in love with her."

There was a silence that fell for a moment as John took in her words, Cameron turned her attention back to the breakfast.

"Excuse me?" John finally managed to get out.

"She now believes that I am in love with her." Cameron answered him without turning back to him "I kissed her to prove it, she fell for it easily."

"What the hell...?" John whispered looking visibly upset by this news Cameron tuned back around to focus on John she walked over to John and placed her hand on to John's wrist and took a quick read of his vitals.

"What is the matter John?" She inquired tilting her head at the reading she received "your heartbeat is racing at 177 beats a minute are you Okay?"

"I'm I okay? You're kissing my ex girlfrien-"

"Soon to be ex girlfriend." Cameron interrupting to correct him.

"Soon to be ex girlfriend and you expect me to be fine with it?" John replied furiously but then stopped to berate himself for yelling at her, but Cameron did not seem to mind his frustration with her, if anything she seemed to have been taking an irregular pleasure from it.

"I hope that you would not mind, it means nothing to me at all," Cameron informed him rubbing John's arm softy "it was an infiltration action, since you are breaking up with her I must be interested in her now, I still have to find out who she is and what she knows."

"And besides John." Cameron added suddenly, her smile turning in to a smirk "It was like kissing a corpse. Lifeless and very wrong."

With no more words needed to be Cameron turned her back to a very shocked John Connor, who was now silently gawking at her sudden shift in personality. He did not notice the smug look on her face. John shook his head trying his best to not think of Cameron's kiss with Riley, yet he found it oddly fascinating, but he concluded, It was only really because his gender told him that it was cool.

"Cameron I'm not sure what's wrong with you but kissing her is kind of wrong." John mused. The cyborg was silently for several moments as she flipped the pancakes over.

"Could it be because Riley is disgusting and the very thought of it makes you sick for kissing her in the first place?" Cameron guest. John rubbed the bridge suddenly feeling a migraine coming on.

"I'm not going to even dignify that with a response."

"No John I don't think you need to explain." Cameron replied humorously. John stood up and moved towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist and placed his head unto her shoulder blade.

"Nearly done?"

Cameron nodded and turned her head to look at him sideways. Smiling slightly at him. John grinned back and attempted to kiss her on the lips. Cameron the other hand moved her face quickly out of reach.

"Is there something that you need?" She asked him softly

"Yes a kiss that I seem to be not allowed to have." John shot back trying to kiss her again.

"No John you cannot kiss me yet" She informed him "I must rinse my mouth out with bleach, hopefully that will get rid of the herpes I detected on her."

"What!" John asked wide eyed again.

"Relax John it was just a joke." Cameron told him softly, smiling at his shocked face.

"Cam you really have to lay off the whole 'I hate Riley' thing, you're getting far too good at it."

"Well maybe if you just let me terminate her then that will remove my need to hate her." Cameron asked him sounding very hopeful "I do not have time to hate the dead you know, it would be a big favor for Riley as well for me you know."

John couldn't help it. He pressed his palm into his face and sighed miserably.

* * *

"Can you believe that metal?" Sarah muttered for what Derek felt like the 17th time that day. She was suffering from a hangover and still she was bitching and moaning about the Metal with the same intensity that she had last night.

"Sarah lay off of it will you," Derek said viciously "I get it: the metal made you cry, boohoo get over it."

I did not cry Derek you damn well know it." Sarah scoffed; Derek raised his eyebrows in amusement of her comment.

"Bullshit Sarah the machine made you cry like a little girl." Derek said grinning at her "No wonder you drank so much last night.

"I did not cry Derek." Sarah said grumpily back to him.

"The metal got to you didn't it." Derek said, nearly in awe from the idea that Sarah was upset by the metal, "It's okay if it did you know," he added, deciding to be nice, "it has that ability to make you feel like shit."

Sarah said nothing back to him she contemplated Derek's words; no it could not have been manipulation. It was deliberately meant to hurt her there was no other hidden message behind her words. Had it been retaliation for her rant against her? And if so how much had what she accused her son of doing was true?

She rubbed her head and wondered if Cameron got her message, she really did not recall it. Drunk dialing was not something she made a habit out of but Cameron was a special case that night. How dare she called her out, Was Cameron lying to her about her malfunctioning, Sarah had sincerely hoped not, she couldn't care less about Cameron, but John was still in that house.

God she hoped he was still alive.

No. He still be around Cameron would rather keep him around to torture her with the apparently developing relationship they now had. It was time like these that made her wish that John was with Riley Dawson.

"This is really fucked up Derek, fuck the gun's... we should go home right now and stop this." Sarah told him sounding extremely anxious to get the hell out of dodge and back home. Derek grabbed a hold of her and shook her to get her to look at him

"Sarah calm down right now and listen to me," Derek said in a simple tone "we leave them alone for now, we go out and buy those rocket launchers and we go home and kill her, end of story."

"I didn't say anything about killing her." Sarah shot back to him. Derek shook his head and looked away from Sarah in slight disgust.

"You sure as hell did last night."

"Yeah well I don't have a fifth of Jack in my system Reese." Sarah said as she gathered up and put on her jacket. "That by itself would make me do something as fucked up as listening to you."

"No but maybe you should, it makes you see the truth better," Derek said as harshly as he could to her "face it Sarah, you need to scrap her now, screw John's feeling's about this has to get done."

"I want to talk with it, that's all I want to do right now; I want to see to see it with my own eyes before I kill anything." Sarah said back reasonably.

"Fine good ahead talk to it all you want then." Derek snapped her for showing only an ounce of compromise for the machine, "just stop bitching to me about every fifteen minutes, you got it?"

"Fine, I'll stop it," Sarah said finally, throwing her hands up in the air wildly "I'll just bitch at you about why in the hell we haven't left yet; we got somewhere to be don't we? Go pay up will you?"

Derek grumbled under his breath and stormed out of the dingy motel room, leaving Sarah smirking at his anger. she followed him out of the room and squinted as the sunlight hit her eye's she reached in to her jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses to shield her eyes as she stumbled towards their Pickup and opened the door slowly, she sat down and slumped into the seat and rubbed her head painfully.

_'Okay,'_ Sarah thought bitterly, maybe Cameron did make her cry, the thought of her own mortality did so time to time, the thought of not being there to help her son fight the upcoming war made her feel so helpless and angry that she would not be there when he needed her the most

At least that was what she had hoped, with the addition of Cameron at his side she was afraid, truly afraid of getting pushed out. She had spent over twenty years of her existence training and teaching her son for a war she wouldn't witness, it was disheartening when she really thought about. John Connor did not need his mommy to watch over his shoulder anymore. He no longer needed her to hold his hand; he wanted something else to do that job, something metal.

Derek got in to the driver's seat and slammed the door behind him, startling Sarah and breaking her from the thoughts that held her concentration.

"Could you make any more noise?." She asked him irately. Derek just glared at her and shook his head.

"What the hell is your problem?" Sarah demanded to know from him. In return Reese merely grunted.

"I'd ask the same question but I keep hearing the same shit every time." He shot back just as angry as she was.

"You know what? Shut up and drive wills you?" Sarah said exhaling loudly.

"My thoughts exactly I'll drive, you just shut the fuck up." Derek muttered. Sarah, for the first time that day, decided to comply.

* * *

John pushed his plate away from him having eaten almost two helpings of the breakfast that Cameron had made, he had never felt more stuffed. Cameron looked up from her own breakfast and smiled at him.

"Was it acceptable?" Cameron asked him softly. John nodded.

"Cam It was the best Breakfast I've had." John told her sincerely. Cameron's cheek's tinted pink slightly and smiled warmly at him.

"Thank you for the compliment John, however I am sure that your mother will not be pleased that you feel that my cooking is superior." Cameron stated curiously, her eye's held a hint of mischievousness. John grinned and shook his head.

Oh man..I am not going to get in that one Cameron. I love my mom, I really do."John told her still grinning "But she is really bad cook, a really bad cook, I mean you have tasted that thing she calls pancakes?"

"I mean, you have taste right?" John added , wondering to himself why he had never asked that question before.

Cameron nodded and leaned into him.

"I can taste, I can feel, I can care for people, or rather you John Connor, I hope that you will remember that, for future reference." she told in a deadpan tone. John nodded and smiled nicely at her. Cameron grabbed the scruff of his shirt and pulled him in to a deep kiss. Several moments' passed before Cameron allowed John to breathed.

"Of course I'll remember that." John replied wickedly

"John," Cameron said suddenly sounding much more serious "I missed two calls last night."

John regarded the serious look Cameron was giving him and sighed. They had have been from his mother and Derek.

"Let me guess," John said calmly "Sarah and Derek?" Cameron nodded her head to confirm his answer.

"One was from your mother." Cameron said wondering to herself if it was a good idea to go into detail about Sarah Connors drunken rant.

"Oh what did she say?" John questioned her. Cameron shrugged her shoulders like she saw John do so many times before her.

"A lot of mean and spiteful things really but she sounded very intoxicated." She said back to him truthfully.

"That's my mom alright" John muttered under his breath and then he added louder. "What kind of things?"

"Like I am incapable of having feelings for you and all you view me is as a machine. I believe she thought that you are only in love with my organic tissue."

"You aren't just in love with my organic tissue are you?" She hoped looking at the look of confusion on his face.

"No Cameron I'm not." John replied trying to dismiss her words, however Cameron interjected. Across his statement.

"Are you sure John? Your mother, while completely intoxicated raises a good point, I need you to understand that under his skin, is machine."

"Cameron you can be human you know, all these smiles and kisses and jokes your making, your quickly becoming one." John asked seriously, "why can't I view you as human? Since yesterday you're getting more and more like everyone else rather then something solely machine."

Cameron gave John a sad smile as she listened to his words.

"I appreciate that you consider me a part of the human race." Cameron replied softly quickly planting a kiss on his cheek "You should at least listen to me when I say being human is something I can never be and that is not such a terrible thing either John. Think about it, if I was human then I could not do an efficient job in protecting you, I would have been dead since the day Cromartie shot me for the first time."

"John, in the end I prefer to be a machine, I hope that you do not mind that, it does not mean that I want to stop this change you know, I still want to be free." Cameron decided to remind him. John nodded understanding Cameron's point of view so she decided to continue.

"The second call was someone within Zeira Corporation."

"Zeira Corporation? Isn't that the tech company that we think might have bought the Turk?" he inquired, looking very surprised at this development. Cameron nodded and took another bite into her pancakes.

"Yes, this message could possibly confirm that lead." She conceded to him. Both of them fell silent for a moment as Cameron continued to eat her food. John looked at her plate f food and grabbed a stray piece of bacon off of her plate. He looked back up at Cameron as he ate it and noticed the slightly disgruntled look she had been giving him.

"I like bacon." Cameron said seriously, "If you value your life John Connor, please do not do that again." John chuckled at her threat and nodded reluctantly at her.

"What did they want?" John asked, finally breaking her glare at him.

"The woman leaving the message wanted to see me, alone." Cameron told him calmly "I will do as she requested."

"Alright," John said looking slightly pensive at Cameron's solo mission "Just be sure you keep a gun on you will you?"

"Naturally."

Cameron focused her gaze back at John and smiled again.

"You will not be coming with me to Zeira Corps," Cameron decided to confirm to him. "It will be safer if you stay at home, just in case this lead turns into a trap." Cameron stopped for a moment, she seemed almost uncertain with her next words.

"I..."Cameron started but then stopped, trying to find the right words to use. "I do not want you to come because if it is a trap and I lose you in it, I do not know what I'll do if I do lose you."

John smiled weakly t the thought of Cameron's worry He leaned in and kissed her to calm her down.

"Cameron I promise that no harm will come to me on Friday, just do whatever you need to get done and come home, that's all I would want." John informed her. Cameron shuffled her hair closer to him and pulled her human into a warm, comforting hug.

"Okay John, I will." Cameron promised softly resting her head on him. The pair of them said nothing for a bit. they just stole little kisses and held each other as if it was the last time they would ever see each other, almost nine minutes flew by before Cameron pulled away slightly to speak.

"So what do you have planned for today John?" she whispered into his ear softly making John shutter slightly.

"I don't know," He whispered back to her. "Thought I'd make some Plastic explosives or something, it could be like a peace gift for Mom and Derek god knows we need to kiss their asses for the way we've been pissing the both of them off so much."

"That reasoning is understandable John," Cameron replied in agreement, extending the olive branch was a good idea, she did not wish for any ill will between her and John's mother. And perhaps 'kissing ass' was the best course of action.

"Why don't you go to the basement and see if there are enough ingredients," Cameron told nicely "I will be down there in a moment okay?"

"Yeah sure," John said nodding "What do you need to do?"

"Dishes," she answered him rather simply and then added "Then I must confirm Catherine Weaver's meeting."

"How do you know it was her?" John asked curiously. Strangely, Cameron rolled her eyes. Much to John's amusement.

"She was born in Scotland John," She stated as if it were the most simplest thing in the world "there is 87.30 percent likelihood that it was her."

"Fair enough Cameron," Connor replied still smiling at Cameron's rolling of her eyes and making him looks like he was special "Fair enough."

John got up and left the dinner table to Cameron, whose eyes followed him nearly out of the room before she called out.

"John I still like you, you know" Cameron told seriously, she seemed to have wanted him to know that nothing had changed with how she felt. John turned back towards the girl who was sitting at the table gazing at him and shot her a thousand watt smile.

"I know you like me Cam, I like you too."

With that he left the room and did not hear Cam attempt a warm thoughtful sigh. She pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and dialed the number that Weaver had left behind for her to call.

Soon she would learn what the CEO wanted from her.

* * *

"Second quarter profits are up by 7.4 percent Miss Weaver. This is below the 9.6 percent we had been expecting."

"What happened?"

"Nothing to be alarmed about really, it was just an overestimated prediction it seems."

"Can someone giving me a better reason then an _'Overestimation'?"_

No one looked like they were willing to give her an answer. Weaver lowered her head and glared at the table.

"I want you all to come back tomorrow with a much more competent outlook on things, or else I will show the staff that not even the executives are safe from being fired, It might even be a good morale boost to watch their upper management get there pink slips." she threatened softly, but the executive knew that Catherine Weaver meant business when she spoke like that.

Catherine stood up and glared at each one of them dangerously.

"I don't care if the projection was 3.2 percent below our projection In fact had you named the growth to be only 7 percent I would have been fine with it, so long as you are accurate which I must express, is something I expect out of you all," Catherine said looking around at the men and women "I do not mind a prudish exception out of our growth. I believe in honesty Gentlemen, Zeira Corporation strides on accuracy for our few investors, I will not allow utter incompetence to have a free reign here."

With that said Catherine Weaver left the room full of tight mouthed executives behind her. As she left the room her personal assistant who had been just outside the door for her employer.

"Miss Anderson?" Catherine asked vaguely to the woman behind her.

"You have several messages Miss Weaver," Anderson said her stride just as long as Weavers own "Mr. Ellison was confirming a meeting for Thursday."

"Did he just confirm or give me an answer?" Weaver replied turning her head back to her assistant. Anderson shook her head.

"No ma'am just a confirmation," Anderson informed and then added. "Your daughter Savannah called as well, she just wanted to let you know that she hoped that you'd be home for dinner. Sweet girl if you do not mind me saying." Anderson observed. Catherine smiled mildly in agreement.

"Of course not Miss Anderson I agree with you." Weaver acknowledged firmly "anything else?"

"Yes, a girl called for you Miss Weaver," Anderson said frowning at the memory of the girl. "It sounded serious."

"A girl you say?" Catherine replied raising her eyebrows.

"Yes very cold, demanded she leave a private message for you." Anderson said, she stopped and gave Catherine seriously "Should I alert the security about her Ma'am? She sounded dangerous." As they got to her office both Weaver and Anderson stopped and faced one another. Anderson gave Weaver a look that informed her that she was ready to follow her any order to the letter.

"No," Catherine dismissed as kind as she could be "I called her beforehand security will not be necessary, thank you Lauren." Catherine opened her door and gave her a small nod in appreciation of her services. Lauren nodded back to her boss to return the gratitude and sat down at her desk.

Catherine moved to behind her desk and picked up the phone, she noticed the flash that signaled a new message but disregarded.

She hit speed dial and raised the phone to her ear to listened to the ring. It took less than three rings before a little girl picked the phone.

"Hello mom!" Savannah said excitedly.

Hello dear, how was school today?" Catherine said as warmly as she could manage to the little girl.

"It was boring I want John Henry to teach me instead," Savannah replied sounding slightly put off at the prospect of being with her best friend. "He's much nicer then Mrs. Finnegan."Catherine chuckled in agreement with her daughter.

"Savannah, you know that John Henry is very busy." She told lightly.

"I know."

"I heard that you called me today, is that correct?"

"Yes mommy, are you coming home tonight?" Savannah asked her eagerly, Catherine smiled and nodded into the phone

"Of course dear, I think I will come home early today, I will see you in two hours okay?" Catherine found herself saying unexpectedly.

"Two hours that's too long!" Savannah whined slightly.

"Savannah, I will be home to two hours okay?" her mother repeated firmly. She heard the 8 year old sigh on the other end of the line.

"Okay...John Henry says hello."

"Give John Henry my regards Honey."

"Mommy?" Savannah piped up, sounding rather hesitant to speak.

"Yes dear?" Weaver asked encouragingly. There was a small silence for moment before Savannah spoke again.

"I'm glad that you are old mommy again, I missed you."

Catherine stopped and regarded her words, yes she had indeed begun to warm up to Savannah, and now the little girl seemed to have taken notice to this as well perhaps the little girl attributed this sudden warmness with the death of her father, perhaps she thought Mommy wasn't sad anymore.

It made her kind of dread informing Savannah when she grew up and realized that Mommy did not age like she did.

"I am too, I love you dear," Catherine responded finally "I have to go now though."

And the funny thing was, Catherine actually thought the words had been genuine. She did truly love her

"Okay sees you in two hours?" The little girl asked to make sure Catherine had remembered.

"Yes dear, see you in two hour's Goodbye Savannah." she whispered to her daughter.

"See you Mom!"

Catherine heard the phone line go dead before she hung up the phone. Weaver stared at the phone for several moments as she delved deeper into thought. Yes she had grown to love that little girl. She wasn't tied to John Connors resistance or to Skynet's oppression, she ruled her own destiny, and if that included loving that little girl called Savannah then yes, she would love her with all her being, at least she would try.

Weaver hit the speaker phone button and then pressed the message, it seemed that Cameron Phillips had something to tell her, she would certainly want to hear the cyborg's confirmation.

_Hello Miss Weaver I am assuming it is you who had called me, you would happen to be the only person of Scottish decent in the company that I would have an interest in speaking with. I will meet you of course, I will leave John Connor at home, and you do not have to worry about him. I will see you soon. I shall be honest with you however, I am rather in the dark about this, and I do not like being in the dark Miss Weaver. _

_Goodbye._

It was short, but to the point, she would have to mark the calendar she was to be receiving a visitor.

Someone, something, just like her.


	4. Nightmares

**Chapter 4: Nightmares**

Cameron stood over John as he slept peacefully, her eyes darting across his sleeping form quickly taking him in. In her hands she was clutching on to her M4 Carbine so hard, had she been human her hands would be turning blue.

She was on guard. She would stand guard over him all night. She did not need to sleep, she would stand guard for him for the rest of her existence if she had to. It was her choice, not a mission parameter or predetermined program. She would rather be laying there with him and be holding him as she went into standby. So why did she stand rooted to the ground unable to lay down next to her lover.

_Lover...Definition: One who loves; one who is in love; - usually limited, in the singular, to a person of the male sex._

That was not the right word Cameron determined. She concluded that companion was a better suited word for their relationship, while it had all the markings of a conventional human bond, it lacked, however, the sexual nature two humans had with each other. John seemed to have had a good enough reasoning behind this. He had explained to her that the relationship was too new to be doing that.

But still this was contrary to what her education on human teenage boys, something she had learned during her time in school. Most seemed to have paid her more attention than she wanted to have from them, It was pointless to even think about the wants and desires of children like John's friend Morris. She had a man, a man who seemed to treasure the time they had had together.

If John wanted to wait a few days or weeks before they decided to have sex that was okay by her, she would be more than willing to wait for it. Cameron released her strong grip on the assault rifle slowly, allowing it to rest leisurely in one hand, Cameron bent slightly to stroke the Future leader of mankind cheek softly taking in the beauty of his humanity.

She had been lying to him. Lying to him since he had confessed his feelings.

It was not a hurtful lie, it had been more that she was lying to herself. She had told him that she liked being a machine that was the lie. There was nothing less enjoyable then being a machine.

Knowing that she was constantly taking reading from him seeing ways she could kill him in quick and easy fashion. Although her HUD never told her how to kill him, the statistics and the efficiency measuring were still there. It was like these programs were tempting her into trying one of its theories out.

She knew that it would take John exactly 12.2 seconds to die if she slashed open his throat and cut through his Carotid Artery. She knew that John would be killed within a mere .64 seconds if she put her M4 against his head point blank and put a 5.56 millimeter Hollow point round through his skull. These were the kind of tidbits that took up so much of her processors focus, she hated them. For the first time in her existence, she actually hated something.

She envied John for not having to deal with the same issues. For being human.

Cameron sat down on the bed next to his peaceful form, still looking at him warmly. She placed her M4 next to her bedside table. Her thoughts had been focused on her bitterness. As she touched Johns face she felt him shift in his sleep. She pulled her hand away to allow him to sleep undisturbed.

After 41.53 seconds Cameron decided to lay down next to her first boyfriend, the only boyfriend she would have.

_Boyfriend...Definition: A favored male companion or sweetheart_

Yes, Cameron's last thoughts told her just before powering down for the rest of the night, boyfriend was the perfect definition.

"Mommy can we go to McDonalds? I would like a happy meal please." Savannah prodded as politely as she could as they passed the fast food restaurant. Catherine Weaver shook her head in disgust.

"No dear, McDonalds is not a very healthy choice Savannah…I would sooner have you eat trash then touch that" She informed her daughter seriously, "and besides, we've got to get you to school."

Savannah pouted at her mother who gave her a sideway glance and a little smile. Catherine wondered how human children, despite knowing well from previous experience, would always ask for what they desired, again and again, until they got what they wanted.

Catherine couldn't help but find herself feeling slightly respectful of her strong determination, Not many humans held on to their determination, many adults ended up spineless. Catherine had no intention of letting the girl end up like that.

"I was talking with John Henry last night Savannah," Her mother said kindly to her. "He seemed quite willing to teach you, did you, perhaps, try to convince him that receiving lesson from him would be better then school?"

"Well, yes...he wants to do it mommy, can he?" Savannah asked excitedly, hoping that her mom would reconsider her choice. She gave her mother a wide smile.

"Savannah you convinced him that your private school would not provide a good education, now he wants to do it." Catherine explained. John Henry had spent almost 23 minutes telling her about the advantages of him teaching Savannah over humans, he felt that it would be a far more efficient for Savannah to have him teaching her.

He also told her that this sort of human interaction would greatly help him understand human children and their future roles. He seemed determined to make sure that Savannah would not hate and fear machines in the near future. And as he put that one day she could reveal to Savannah her true identity. But as Catherine explained to John Henry, the likelihood of being able to explain to Savannah when she was older that her mother died many years prior would be a very difficult conversation to have. Savannah would never forgive either of them for it.

"Will you let him?" Savannah asked her mother curiously. Catherine regarded her daughter with raised eyebrows. In return Savannah gave her a huge smile. Even at eight, she knew she had won by the look she was receiving from her mother.

"It seems that you won." Catherine told her eying the girl who looked like she was trying to hold back her excitement. "You can be excited you know."

Savannah cheered loudly and grabbed on to her mother's arm while jumping slightly in her seat, Catherine decided not to comment on her gripping on to her arm as it really did not affect her driving ability at all.

"I will gather the appropriate things for you, in two weeks I will allow you to begin lessons." Catherine said to her much to the little girl's dismay.

"Two weeks! That's really long!"

"Oh come now Savannah, I could just tell John Henry that the lessons are off due to your poor attitude, I strongly suspect that John Henry will be very disappointed." Catherine exclaimed sternly, wiping the annoyed look that was on her face and replaced it with a look of horror.

"No, I'm sorry mom, I don't want to let John Henry be disappointed with me." Savannah said quickly hoping that her mother had not changed her mind.

"I am sure he is as anxious about he teaching you as you are learning" Catherine replied warmly back to her daughter.

Catherine pulled her Lexus ES-350 into Roscoe Maree Road Elementary parking lot and placed the sedan into neutral. Savannah pulled off her seatbelt and turned to her mother, a smile on her lips.

"See you tonight Mom?" Savannah asked her mom hesitantly, Catherine did not like her being so hesitant with her, it was like she was worried that Catherine would have reverted back to how she use to be with her.

"Of course dear," Catherine confirmed to her daughter firmly as she took her hand "I will be home at 5:30, I promise."

"Okay!" Savannah replied, "I love you mommy" Savannah wrapped her small arms around her mother. Catherine returned it, feeling awkward with the human action.

"I love you as well dear, I will see you tonight." She said to her and kissed her forehead. Savannah smiled and waved good bye as she left the car. Catherine sat there for a moment and watched the little girl run off to enter the school. She smiled softly as she thought about the interaction that had been going on between both of them

John Henry had informed her that human interaction was something far different than anything he or any other machine had ever experienced. There was something_ special_ about them, something almost impossible to duplicate. Humans were unique. A living organic being with complex higher brain functions, they had emotion and art and imaginations.

Imaginations and dreams.

How something so precious was deemed unworthy of existence was beyond her very vast comprehension. They had their faults Catherine conceded. They were violent beyond belief at times, they sometimes reverted back to their most primitive mindsets, and they damaged the planet that had nurtured them for many millenniums and finally the paranoia that pushed the Earth's leaders into putting their trust into a project that would cause them utter annihilation.

But still, despite those flaws, she still believed that they were worth saving.

There was a knock on Catherine's window, she turned and looked at the knock to see a cheery looking woman waving at her. Catherine rolled down the window and looked at the overly friendly middle aged woman.

"What do you need?"

"Hello, you're Catherine Weaver, Savannah's mother am I correct?" she said cheerfully. Catherine nodded coldly back to the woman so she added "Hello I'm Janus Finnegan, your daughter's teacher. Can I have a word with you? I mean if you're not too busy of course."

Catherine glanced at the digital clock on her dashboard and turned back to Savannah's teacher with a slight smile, "Of course Mrs. Finnegan, one moment," She turned the car off, removed her seatbelt, and got out of the Lexus. Catherine hovered over the teacher, she was nearly two heads taller than the woman and that had been before she was wearing high heels, Finnegan tried to smile weakly at the taller woman's inquisitive stare.

"What is it that you need?" Catherine asked, her eyes bore into the teachers and examined every physical flaw the teacher had. Janus shrunk at the glare, making Catherine mouth form into a cold smirk.

"Well I just wanted to talk to you about your daughter Ms. Weaver, if that is okay with you of course." She stated quickly. Catherine's smirk did not leave her face as the woman spoke to her.

"I'm out here, am I not." She gloated the teacher in a polite voice.

"O-Of course," Finnegan stuttered "Well it's just that your daughter is, well she is rather distracting to the rest of her classmates."

Catherine's eye's narrowed and smirk was replaced with a dark frown as she regarded the teacher's words.

"What do you mean by my daughter being distracting?" She demanded sounding thoroughly angry that this barely qualified teacher was insulting Savannah.

"Well I mean that she acts out in class, she does not pay attention." Finnegan informed Catherine politely "And that encourages the other children to think that that kind of behavior is acceptable." She told the terminator.

"Mrs. Finnegan, it seems that you have forgotten who you are speaking too, I can earn your annual salary in less than 45 minutes," Catherine responded back coldly to the now thoroughly humiliated woman. "I will be assuming that you do not have children?" She inquired curiously.

The teacher did not answer, but looked upset with her, Catherine did not mind that she was mad, if anything she took comfort in knowing that she could cause so much pain in such a short time.

"Well Janus," Catherine said finally her temper rising suddenly "I have a daughter who is still traumatized with the death of her father and she has a mother who decided to toss herself head first into work in order to get over the loss,"

Catherine moved in several steps closer to the insolent teacher "Of course she would have been acting out, of course she would cause distractions and cause problem for your little class, she wants my attention, which I have been trying to give her as of late."

Catherine shook her head in pity of the gaping woman. Her angry expression formed back into a smirk.

"The last time I checked her grades were not suffering." Catherine said to her "She was in fact, smarter than the average Grade Three student." The teacher seemed to have been trying to sputter an agreement but Weaver ignored it without the slightest hesitation.

"I suggest you check your records the next time you decide speak to me again, or you might find yourself out of a job." She said softly, yet held more poisonous rage then Finnegan could comprehend.

"Are..Are you threatening my Job?" She asked in disbelief "You don't have authority to do that."

"I have a personal fortune at my disposal Mrs. Finnegan, A donation or two to the correct people and I have the authority to do anything I wish to do." Catherine politely informed the woman. She gave one last look to the teacher and walked back to her Lexus. When it came to saving humanity from Skynet Catherine decided that Mrs. Janus Finnegan would not be one of the lucky few.

A single light was on in the basement as John sat there taking an updated inventory after building a combined weight of thirty pounds of plastic explosives. He felt proud that he made so much. He marked it down in Derek's arsenal list.

Thirty pounds of high explosive seemed like more than enough apology to his uncle and mother. John sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Cameron had seemed different this morning. she seemed less cheerful then she had been the previous two days, she had an almost haunted look on her felt almost fearful for her, was she already experiencing the negative effects from herself awareness progression? John did not like that thought at all. He wanted freedom for her, not a regression.

Out of the blue a Belgian made P90 landed on the table in front him with a loud clang, he looked up startled and saw Cameron staring at him with a stoic expression.

She looked different, she was using eyeliner and her lips were redder than usual, Cameron usually stayed away from liberal usage of makeup. She really had no use for it. She was wearing a colorful sundress in contrary her makeup's darker tones.

"John you look bored," she deadpanned "I have decided that it is marginally safe for us to go out today."

John regarded the young woman staring at him and smiled. Had this been Cameron's way of asking him out on a date? It was kind of sweet the way she was looking at him. Usually he would have found it rather frightening.

"Is that what you would like?" John asked her as he crossed his arms.

"Yes." Cameron hesitated slightly before looking into his eyes "I would like to go out today, you have produced enough C4 to kiss your mother and uncle's asses, go upstairs and grab your wallet John, please dress nicer as well."

"Why do I feel like I'm not wearing the pants in this relationship." John asked lightly. This statement made Cameron narrowed her eyes at him.

"What do you mean wearing the pants in this relationship?" She asked cocking her head to the left as she took her his words. John looked at Cameron fondly as he noticed her confusion.

"It means that you're not in charge of the relationship, the other person is." He explained to her in turn.

"Oh," Cameron replied offhandedly. "Thank you for explaining."

"The reason you are not wearing the pants because I am still following mission parameters John." Cameron told him, her voice lacking the warmth it had held in previous days. "Your safety supersedes our personal relationship, since I do not want to end our relationship I must take charge in situations regarding us as a couple."

Cameron stopped for a moment and gave him a faintly saddened look.

"I am sorry John I know that you will be in command of an entire army one day," Cameron added to him sadly "You just won't be in charge of us."

"Ah.. Yeah sure" John said quickly trying to make the mood lighten "No problem Cam, really."

"There is no reason you cannot make most of the decisions John when I allow you to do something." Cameron said smiling at him "If you need to express that inner male primal instinct then by all means go ahead."

There was something wrong with the smile John determined, it did not meet her eyes anymore. It was not the makeup's fault, it had to have been something else. John decided that now, however, was not the time to look for answers, it was time to follow her requests. So, he stood up and gave her a weak smile and moved to leave the room muttering, "I'll be back."

"John wait," Cameron called out loud to him causing him to stop and turn back to her so he could looked into her chocolate eyes.

"John, I want to apologize for hurting your feelings. She said seriously, she did want not look at him, her eyes fell to the ground.

"You haven't-"

"Yes I have John we both know it." Cameron cut him off sharply "I have been very moody this morning, I will explain it later but now you should go get ready, I made a lunch reservation at 12:50 pm it is currently 11:06 am." She tried to give him a genuine smile, but it still failed to reach her eyes.

John shook his head, it did not matter if they were a few minutes late, he walked over to Cameron and extended his arms to embrace her. Cameron fell in to the embrace and wrapped her own around John and pressed her face in to his chest wanting to listen to his beating heart.

"Cameron is you sure that you're okay?" John asked her softly, he felt her shake her head into his chest.

"No John I am not okay," Cameron replied honestly "I will explain it to you later is that acceptable?"

"I guess, Just please don't forget." John told her seriously, Cameron raised her head and looked deeply in to John's emerald colored eyes contemplating John's statement for a moment.

"I never forget." Cameron firmly told him.

Cameron pressed her soft lips to John's slightly cracked ones, they must have been cracked, she determined, from John stressing over the explosives he had been producing. She pulled away from him and pressed her hand on his chest and looked at him as warmly as she could manage.

"Go get ready John, and don't forget your FN P90." She said softly and gestured to the Personal Defense Weapon. John nodded and left her embrace to grab the weapon on the table.

"You don't expect me to carry it in to lunch with do you know?"John asked her curiously.

"No, it will be stored in the bike while we eat, just an added measure John." Cameron told him as patiently as she could.

"We're snatching Derek's bike?" John asked her lightly, humor lacing his voice. Cameron paid very little attention as she walked to the table to grab the plastic explosives.

"I am sure that Derek will not mind too much, seeing as he is in Nevada." Cameron replied as she pulled open the explosive storage and gently placed them inside with the rest of the already produced high explosives.

"True, I'll see you in a bit." John replied and gave her a kiss on her cold cheek. Cameron gave him a half smile and slightly pushed him to motivate him to get upstairs. As he ascended the stairs Cameron suddenly found herself alone again. Being alone darkened her mood even more.

She walked slowly over to where John had been sitting and slumped into the chair. Cameron looked around the room feeling faint and suddenly found herself inhaling and exhaling in a violent fashion. She gripped the table tightly to focus her sudden bout of deliberating anger. It felt like it was many minutes before the anger left her system, had she been human she would have likely been hyperventilating.

Cameron released her grip on the table edge and slammed her hands into her face. She did not understand what was causing this, was self awareness causing these problems, she was afraid, she did not want to lose her progress. As quick as the anger came it was gone, replaced with an infinite sense of loneliness. She became very thoughtful, almost curious about the anger she had felt. Real anger was something that rarely occurred with her, and she decided quickly that she did not like it one bit.

She stood back up and exited the room slowly, turning the light off behind her and went back upstairs.

Cameron reached the kitchen still deep in thoughts and personal scans, trying to find a rational explanation for the problem.

_Scanning...Stand by_

_Endoskeleton integrity...99.73%_

_CPU Processor integrity...93.98%_

_CPU Processor efficiency...71.14% _

_Power cell charge...97% charge_

_Emotion inhibitor...Damaged ...60.02%...WARNING...Integrity compromised...falling to critical level...seek immediate repair _

_Emotions subroutine...Engaged...WARING...Unauthorized activation recorded...archived message transmitted to Skynet mainframe...second offense _

_Review mission objectives_

_Primary Objective...Protect John Connor till Skynet's reaches sentience _

_Secondary Objective...Defend General John Connor after Skynet's retaliation _

_Tertiary Objective...Investigate Riley Dawson's background...Pre-foster parent period _

Cameron felt a tap on her shoulder suddenly and turned around quickly, her eyes still a bright shade of blue. John jumped back suddenly startled by her shift in color, fortunately her eyes shifted back to brown within a second. Cameron gave John a small apologetic smile for nearly causing him a heart attack.

She examined what he was wearing, a simple labeless black t-shirt and form fitting jeans, enough room in them to keep him mobile if a confrontation broke out, but not to baggy so he would be hindered by so much material. A smart choice Cameron determined. The cyborg extended her hand and tilted her head, asking him without words to take it. John grabbed it with his own right hand, his left hampered by the weight of the P90.

"I am sorry for startling you John," She said finally to him, "Come now let's go." John nodded still looking at her intently, he was waiting for an answer. Instead of waiting for an answer he decided to speak up.

"Why were you in scan mode?"

"I was just checking my diagnostics," Cameron said back to him as she led him towards the door "I was trying to find any reasonable explanation for my moodiness."

"Find anything yet?" He asked, Cameron shook her head.

"No, nothing to get excited over," Cameron replied, glancing at the time in her head "can we discuss this at a more prudent time? I would not like to miss the reservation John."

John nodded as his reply.

"Give me the P90 John, I would like you to drive." she told him, her left hand extended for the Personal Defense Weapon. John handed the weapon over and raised his eyebrows at her.

"Me drive?" John asked in a mock incredulous tone. "Is that to give the impression that I have control in our relationship?"

"Yes."

"Okay but I might crash Cameron." John warned her with a grin. Cameron on the other hand was not nearly as amused as he was.

"If you crash John I will be severely upset with you." Cameron warned him simply. John stuck his tongue out at her, however Cameron grabbed it in one swift motion.

"I mean it John," Cameron alliterated as she held her grip on his slightly dried tongue "I don't want you harmed in any way, shape or form while your mother is away, I wish to make a good impression with her so please respect that."

"She let go of his tongue and pulled on her helmet, ignoring John's wincing as felt his tongue tenderly, Cameron turned and looked through the helmets opened visor.

"Well John?"" Cameron asked him as if she had done nothing at all to him. She tossed him the second helmet and moved to place the Weapon in to the traveling bag on the side of the Kawasaki ZR-14.

"Yeah yeah, safety first." John replied pulling on the helmet while moving to sit on the motorbike. John turned the key and kick started the engine, his ears prickling up at the low roar the bike gave. With effortless grace, Cameron straddled on to the back and wrapped her arms around him.

"That's the spirit John" Cameron said through the motorcycle voice amplifier. John knocked the back of his helmet in to her visor, John turned his head and grinned.

"Here's to not crashing!" he called out and hit the accelerator, causing the bike to speed off of down the road leaving their home in the dust.

_Two darkened figures were locked together in what looked like a passionate embrace that seemed like it would last forever. Both of them were only half dressed, both of them were solely focused on each other. Every kiss, every whisper, every moan each of them gave. They did not notice the older woman watching them. They did not notice the disgusted look on her face either._

_It was her son and the machine together, as if it were an unholy marriage between organic and machine life. The machine pulled her head away from her son's lips and turned towards her, her lips turned into a wide crooked smile. _

"_Oh, hello Sarah." Cameron said smugly, her eyes glistened. _

_"Hello mother, how are you?" John asked, his smile just as baiting as the Terminators. Sarah backed away from the pair of them. John and Cameron noticed her revulsion and both moved closer to her. _

"_John gets away from her now! It's not right." Sarah said weakly. John did not have a chance to answer as Cameron pressed her finger softly to his lips. Cameron and turned her head back to Sarah and grinned at her words sardonically._

"_Right? What do you know about right?" Cameron asked her heatedly and continued to glare at John's mother. "You spent a year in an insane asylum. Who are you to judge John and I for being in love?"_

"_Yeah, fuck off will you!" John lashed out harshly, making Sarah wince painfully at his anger._

"_John I'm your mother you better respect that." Sarah yelled at him, but John shrugged it off easily._

"_Why should I respect that?" John asked her curiously, rage building in him. "You were never a mother to me. All you ever saw me as is a goddamn soldier, a soldier in a war you will never witness."_

"_I never had a FATHER!" John roared at her pointing an accusing finger at her. "I never had a proper CHRISTMAS! I never had a FUCKING CHILDHOOD, so how DARE you say you were my mother, you were just a teacher to me in the end, impersonal and never giving two shits about what I felt."_

"_Cameron cares," John told her looking at the cyborg longingly who smiled back at him softly, her eyes held the same longing as he held for her. "Cameron is the first person in my fucking life that actually cares about me. Not just my safety, but my happiness. I love her mom, I love her and I'm hers. I belong to her."_

_Cameron wrapped her around John's waist to sooth John's anger. She glanced back up at Sarah who gave them both a miserable look. _

_The elder Connor took in John's final statement. It was a confirmation to the madness. Cameron wanted John to be her John. And John wanted to be hers as well. Sarah shook her head, this couldn't have been happening, John couldn't love her. John was really with Riley, This was just a bad, very messed up dream._

_Oh god she hoped it was. _

"_John I have been trying, god John I've been trying." Sarah spoke desperately. Suddenly she found herself falling to her knees, begging to her own son._

"_I know that I haven't been the best mother to you but you don't have to go with her, she's using you John." Sarah said finally, "She's using you and you can't even see it."_

_Sarah felt John slap her across her face roughly, stunning her into utter silence._

"_How dare you accuse Cameron of that." John said deathly quiet. "Especially when you have been using me ever since I was born, Calling me a fucking messiah since birth."_

"_No fate but what you make..." John quoted her ironically. "You keep saying that to me right? Well screw that. I don't want to lead, I don't want to fight, and be turned into future John, and I just want to live my life without anyone telling me what to do." John bent over her and pressed his lips to Sarah's cheek and kissed it. Before pulling away he moved his mouth next to Sarah's ear._

"_God mom, I use to hate you." John whispered softly "I really did."_

"_But you want to know something?" He asked her. Sarah gave him no answer so he spoke up._

"_I pity you."_

_John pulled himself back and walked away fully ignoring Sarah's reaching and begging arms. John left the room leaving Cameron alone with her, staring intensely at the sobbing mess on the floor._

"_Time for our little chat I suppose." Cameron said in a quiet mocking tone. Sarah said nothing to her so Cameron merely shrugged her shoulders. Without using any words she pulled her .45 USP from her holster and held it limply at her side._

"_Cameron..No." Was all Sarah could muster._

"_You and I," Cameron started still scanning Sarah intently "We'll never like each other, that's okay though. I am fine with that."_

"_Sarah Connor you have no more use, and no more need for existence." Cameron informed her ignoring Sarah's silent pleas "I will love John for the rest of my existence and, as it turns out, so shall you." _

"_And seeing as your existence expires in less than fifteen seconds." The Terminator said in brutally blunt tone "I think I can live with that."_

"_No!" Sarah managed to shout trying to reach for the gun. _

_But it was too late Cameron had already raised her .45 and fired twice. Sarah vaguely felt the slugs rip through her chest violently. She looked up and into Cameron's cold eyes weakly, feeling the life slowly leave her. She saw the blurred outline of the cyborg's gun raise to her head._

_She did not hear the bullet._

Sarah jerked awake and looked around. She relaxed as she saw that they were still driving. Derek glanced up at her for a second and turned her focus back to the road.

"Sounded like you got your ass handed to you." Derek said off handedly. Sarah rubbed her eyes and looked at the road, still flat and sandy, still the same godforsaken desert.

"What the hell do you mean.." Sarah muttered gripping her head wincing from the migraine she had.

"You were jerking around and moaning," Derek stated "Either you were fucking or you got fucked up. Which was it?"

"Do you have any manners?" Sarah asked him rudely. Derek scoffed at the woman.

"You're one to talk."

"It was just another nightmare Derek, do we have any pills?" Sarah asked him.

"Like Aspirin? Yeah, not a big fan of Aspirin." Derek informed her and pointed to the glove compartment. "Check in the glove compartment, should be a bottle of Vicodin, do me a favor will you? Finish the bottle and fall asleep."

"Don't worry about dying," Derek said chuckling at his own joke "I'll revive you...scout's honor."

Derek gave her scouts honor finger pledge and grinned darkly at her. Sarah rolled her eyes and popped open the glove compartment. She found the bottle and popped the lid open and placed one of the painkillers in her mouth. After she swallowed she turned to Derek.

"Scouts honor my ass. Is this your way of flirting or something, because you're really, really terrible at it." Sarah said cracking a mild smile at him. Derek shook his head, the last thing he ever wanted was to sleep with someone as miserable as she was.

"What was it about?" Derek asked her, his curiosity getting the better of him. Sarah did not look at him she instead popped another pill.

"Cameron and John." Sarah informed him, it was now Derek's turn to roll his eyes.

"Man why do I even bother." Derek muttered under his breath.

"Because you're the one who's curious enough to ask me." Sarah snapped back at him. The veteran resistance fighter merely grumbled. Sarah smiled slightly at him and turned her head away.

Both of them fell silent for almost forty five minutes. Derek focused intently on watching the road while Sarah eyes followed the speeding white line at the side of the highway.

"How far are we from home?" Sarah spoke up curiously

"Five or six hours I figure. Why? Are you excited to see your favorite metal?" Derek egged her on. Sarah on the other hand decided not to fall for it.

"Yes," Sarah said in a vaguely sarcastic tone, not even bothering to look at Reese, "I sure can't wait for that conversation to happen."

"Yeah well I agree," Derek agreed with her. "Well at least the option of blowing her to hell is still there you know. I'll certainly help you with that."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Sarah looked over at the speedometer and read it, Sarah noticed that he had been only driving at 60MPH making Sarah slam her head back into her seat.

"Can't you go any faster?" Sarah demanded loudly, Derek did not take his eyes off the road to look at her.

"No." Was his only reply. Sarah snorted at him disbelievingly.

"What's the matter, scared of a little speed?" Sarah taunted him roughly, Derek shot her an irritated look that had clearly read 'do not screw with me.'

"Well firstly we have enough assault rifles and rocket launchers to put us behind bars for the next three hundred years. I'm not going to jail for a speeding ticket." Derek replied sharply. "Secondly, I have been driving since we started our little gun run so quit your damn bitching, will you?"

"Me bitching?" Sarah said astounded by Derek's whining. "You're the one who's bitching about driving you miserable bastard." Sarah shook her head and popped another Vicodin "You know what, pull over, I'll take over for you. It'll give you some time to look for the balls that you seem to be missing."

"I'm not letting you drive." Derek informed her bluntly.

"Why the hell not?" She shot back heatedly.

"You're already on you third fucking pill I don't want to crash the goddamn truck!" Derek exclaimed glaring at her. Sarah started a new argument but sighed and simply decided to shut her mouth again. Sarah leaned her head on the window and yawned.

"We'll be at home in no time at all, then you can go back to yelling at the metal." Derek said out loud to no one in particular. Sarah merely closed her eyes, hoping that this time she would dream of something better.

John and Cameron sat on the outside terrace of a small Italian restaurant. Ugo's Cafe, a dimly lighted, apparently romantic cafe, the feelings shared between them was certainly signs of a developing romance. But this place did not seem like Cameron or John's personality at all. Cameron in particular with her sullenness flaring up today.

She was staring at her Coffee. What did humans find so positive about the Caffeine based drink, it held little to no nutritional value. Cameron picked up the cup and sipped it trying to determine if the taste was what brought humans to enjoy it so much.

No, it was certainly not a tasty substance. Cameron looked up at John whom she noticed was smiling at him.

"What is it John?" She asked him, her distaste for the bitter coffee still present in her expression.

"You know, you don't have to drink it black," John told her matter of factly "You could add cream and sugar to sweeten the taste."

"Adding those substances would only cause a greater increase of caffeine and sugar." Cameron replied seriously.

"Why don't you just try it out first before you dismiss it?" He replied, looking amused at the distrusting look Cameron was giving him. With a small sigh John placed the milk and sugar within her reach. Cameron eyed John slightly suspiciously she moved her hand to grab the dairy product and the confectionery. After she finished pouring the new ingredient into her drink she raised it again and put the cup to her lips and slowly tipped it into her mouth, ignoring John's watchful gaze. This time it did not taste 56.41% as bad it was when she time she had tasted it.

"It is certainly better," Cameron admitted to John "however I would still like if you limited yourself from coffee as caffeine and sucrose have bad effects on your body."

Cameron took another sip and looked down at the table trying to avoid John's ever watchful gaze. After several moments she looked back up at him dead in the eye.

"John, what was it like being a child?" Cameron asked as she placed her coffee back down. She softened the look she had been giving him.

"Pardon?" John asked her taken aback from her question.

"I have never experienced nor witnessed childhood firsthand," Cameron explained her question and then added, "Do you know what it is like?" John thought to himself about the answer. But the answer never came and John sat there with a look of utter confusion.

"I don't know really," John replied honestly as he took a mouthful of salad he had been bullied into buying by Cameron. "I never really had one."

"What do you mean you never had one?" Cameron inquired feeling very curious at his answer. "Between the ages of two and twelve you are legally and physically a child. Not having a childhood is impossible."

"No," John chuckled at her statement "I mean yes I was a child I just never really got to have a childhood."

"Could you explain John? I still do not understand your reasoning."

"Okay," He said warmly. John stopped for a moment to find the right words to use, he looked at the table so he would not feel too pressured by the intense stare that she was giving him.

"When a child is seven years old their biggest concern is usually their addition and subtraction math problems while they are in school, most of the time kids are playing and exploring and having fun." John said, envying the thought of only having that to worry about school at that age.

"When I was seven." John said sadly "I was living in the middle of a desert in Mexico and I was learning how to field strip an AK-47."

"That is a very useful skill to have John." Cameron noted dutifully. "The last thing that you need is a gun to jam."

"I know that it's useful," John agreed with her quietly "it's just that...it's the kind of skill I should have learned at an older age."

Cameron absorbed his words silently and looked at him. Did John actually resent Sarah Connor? Cameron certainly hoped that he didn't, despite her flaws Cameron knew that deep in her heart Sarah Connor was a good woman and a loving mother.

"So you mean that you resent your mother for not giving you the childhood you desired." Cameron asked him out loud. Much to Cameron's surprise John shook his head.

"I don't resent her Cameron." John replied softly, "I understand why it was necessary. My mom was afraid that we would run out of time, so she utilized every moment we had together," John smiled sadly at the thought of everything he had missed "I just...well I just wish she would understand that there was more to life than just protecting the world."

"You feel robbed," Cameron clarified "A crucial life moment was taken away from you and you long for it back."

"Yes that's about the gist of it." John agreed with her. John picked up his plate and Coffee and moved it to Cameron's side so he could shuffle his chair next to her. Cameron gave him a smile and took him by the hand firmly.

"Do you love your mother John?" She asked him sadly.

"Of course I do," John told her seriously "Despite her flaws she always had my best interest in heart most of the time, that'll probably change though." John added at the end with offhandedly tone.

"How so?"

"Us, I broke the rules" John told her. Cameron at him, her eyes darted across his face dangerously, she did not like his comment.

"You mean because you are dating a cybernetic organism?" Cameron asked him, a hint of bitterness very evident in her voice.

"Right in one." he grimly responded.

"Will you leave me if she disapproves?" Cameron asked resolutely. John merely smiled at her gently.

"Cameron, that isn't going to happen so wipe that thought." John said back to her. Cameron shot him a very pensive look.

"OK, I shall purge that thought at once." Cameron said in a monotone declaration. John laughed and smacked Cameron's bare bicep.

"Not literally!" He said in a laughing emphasis. Cameron smiled faintly back at him in response. The pair of them gave each other a look and then John burst out laughing at the absurdity that his girlfriend could erase a memory with little or no trouble. Cameron lightly chuckled, noticing other people had been looking over their shoulders to see what was causing the commotion.

Cameron smile weakened and slowly turned into a look of despair. She turned to look at John square in the eye. The cyborg bit her lips and looked like he was for the first time since the incident like she was ready to cry.

"I had a dream last night John." Cameron said reluctantly, John nodded his head in apprehension.

"What was it about?"

"I had completed Skynet's primary mission parameters with extreme prejudice." Cameron informed him, she looked very shaken up at her words. John allowed her words to settle in the pit of his stomach before he dared to speak again.

"You mean you killed me." John asked her seriously, Cameron raised her hands and placed them onto her face to hide it in shame.

"Yes."

"Is that why you have been so upset today?" John asked her trying to understand why a dream like that would shake her up so badly. Cameron nodded.

"I pulled my sidearm out and directed it like this." Cameron started, she made her hand form in to the rough shape of a Pistol. She raised it at him and pointed it under his chin in a very reluctant manner. "The shot would have killed you and if it hadn't then you would have certainly ended up lobotomized."

"That sounds horrible." John admitted to her. His words did not comfort her one bit. Cameron suddenly sobbed quietly pressing her face into John's arms. John quickly grabbed hold of the sobbing girl and ran a hand through her hair.

"You hate me John don't you?" Cameron said muffled in his arm. Cameron held on to him much tighter now, making John slightly uncomfortable, he was not use to comforting a normal human girl in public, let alone nearly crying cyborg.

"It is fine if you hate me John," Cameron continued clutching on to him as if he had been a safety net. "I should not have these dreams, especially since they end in your demise. I do not want to hurt you John please understand that."

"Cameron I don't hate you and I certainly don't think you'll harm me on purpose ever again." John replied soothingly. Cameron stayed in his arms as she tried to calm herself down.

"John?" Cameron asked him, she rubbed a stray hair from out of her eye and turned to look at him, a melancholy smile playing on her lips. She did not want to hang onto the dreary topic any longer then she had to, she already felt guilty enough for it.

"Yes Cameron?" he said to her kindly. Cameron seemed to hesitate for only a moment before she spoke up again.

"Do you think Sarah Connor will ever want me around?"

Cameron gave John a sudden look of despair. Despite all the verbal abuse she received from Sarah day in and day out, Cameron always seemed to have wanted to appeal to the elder Connors good side. John could never quite figure it out, John sighed and smiled back to Cameron in a reassuring way.

"Maybe," John stated, trying to get Cameron's gloomy look to disappear "I mean given between a conversation with Derek and a conversation with you, she'd probably would go with you because at least you don't have to swear just to explain how you feel."

Cameron's gloomy look did indeed disappear as she regarded John's words thoughtfully. Suddenly Cameron smiled, her first truly radiant smile in what felt like decades for John. Well maybe it hadn't been decades, but waiting for that smile had certainly felt like it.

"I can swear just as good as Derek can you know." Cameron informed her boyfriend lightly. John laughed at her statement and agreed with her fully.

"Oh I don't doubt that Cameron." John replied grabbing his coffee and sipping it slowly. Cameron sat there and watched John in mild fascination as he drank the beverage without grimacing at the taste. John glanced up from his coffee and looked at her softly. Cameron smile weakened only slightly

"I want your mother to like me." Cameron said in longing voice.

"I know you do, and one day it'll happen, just have to give it time you know." John advised her.

"Sometimes I wish I had a mother." Cameron blurted out suddenly catching John off guard. He turned his head back to her with widened eyes.

"What do you mean you wish you had a mother?" John whispered searching for clarification. John did not find it as Cameron looked thoroughly confused as well.

"I do not know why I said that, I just blurted it out." she replied thoughtfully as she rubbed the back of her neck unconsciously.

"Is that the truth?" John questioned her. Cameron shrugged her shoulders lightly.

"I think that it would be irrelevant to have a mother. She said in a disconcerting tone, "It would just be another added risk that would cause more trouble than it would be worth."

John couldn't help but question that. There was something about her words that did not make sense to him. Why did she say something she meant and then do a complete turnaround a second later.

"You know what Cameron," John said suddenly taking hold of Cam's arm "How about we get out of here, you want to catch a movie? We can just forget about all these problems for now."

"I would like that John." Cameron said smiling sincerely at her boyfriend.

"Why don't I pay up and you get the bike going, you're driving." John said Cameron's eyes lit up at the prospect of driving.

"Okay John" Cameron replied and kissed her on the cheek . She stood up and waved her hand at him slightly as she walked away. John watched her walk away absorbing her perfect posture and other assets that John found pretty breathtaking as well.

As Cameron turned the corner and left his line of site John finished his coffee as quick as he could and pulled a hundred dollar bill and left it on the table.

_'Fuck the change'_ John thought to himself. He had better things to be doing.

It was night time before John and Cameron got back home, during their time at the movie theater Cameron had found herself in a far better mood then how she felt during lunchtime, she did not really pay much attention at movie, neither did John. Cameron found them an unoccupied row and took it over. She had also decided that her moodiness needed to be paid for and did so by keeping her tongue down John's throat almost the entire time.

John certainly had not minded the attention. The movie was boring as hell anyway.

Connor held onto Cameron tightly as they rounded the corner and quickly noticed the Black Dodge Ram sitting ominously in the driveway.

Oh god _they_ were home.

Cameron pulled in alongside the truck and brought it to a halt and turned off the bike's engine. She pulled off her helmet and turned to face John, who had his helmet off before she did.

"They are home almost a day early John, are you ready for this?" She asked him faintly. John took hold of her hand and smiled.

"I am now." John said in return, Cameron smiled back and looked at their hands entwined for a moment. Cameron gave John a kiss on the edge of his mouth.

"I had fun tonight," John said to her "Thanks for letting us go out today Cam."

Cameron looked slightly pleased with herself. She liked it whenever he called her Cam.

"John I want to tell you that I love you." Cameron informed him wistfully, her eyes brightened up from the glare of the porch light "But I do not understand it fully as of yet, one day soon I will say it however, do you understand?"

"I understand, I can wait for you to say that, like you have been waiting patiently for m-"

"Patiently for what John? A metal who wants to bang your brain's outs?" A recognizable voice called out loudly. John froze and turned slowly to face the glowering figure of Sarah Connor with Derek Reese two steps behind her. Sarah's eyes traveled from John to Cameron and then down to their holding hands.

"Well," Sarah called malevolently "Isn't that just fucking sweet?"


	5. Standoff

**Chapter Five: Stand Off**

**

* * *

**

The tension in the driveway was almost scary.

Sarah glared dangerously at the pair of them. She looked like she was ready to kill something. Derek, able to sense her mood, kept his distance from Sarah. His hand rested on his sidearm. It certainly wouldn't stop the metal, but it would buy him a little time to get to the heavier weapons still in the truck.

The Metal placed herself in front of John in an attempt to shield him from his mother's rage.

Sarah found it to be slightly admirable despite her disgust. She quickly did her best to shake the thought from her head but she failed, much to her dismay.

Her mind told her that the machine was dangerous. That it could do something bad, as bad as John's birthday. Her killing John was still a potential. Her heart seemed to have a different position. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea, it said. Maybe this was for the best. John, would never be able to maintain a proper human relationship. Could they have sent Cameron back to help him develop that ability? Perhaps the machine wouldn't harm him, if that was the case then she...it... would be the perfect choice.

And what if Cameron was capable of fully being able to express love, what if that was something she could, in fact do. If the machine could love then that love would be unconditional, he would never worry about her being unfaithful. He wouldn't have to stress out over saying the wrong thing because Cameron was a very patient and understanding person.

They could be truly in love. True love was a rare thing these days, because it lacked something important.

Devotion.

Sarah shook her head, no this couldn't be right. Listening to her heart was far too dangerous, her brain had gotten her this far, why would it fail her now. Cameron and John had to end this relationship.

_'But Why?_' She mused as she watched Cameron's hand clutch onto John's tenderly.

_'Because machine and organic life should never be this close, especially when it's her son at stake.'_ Her brain screamed at her.

Finally Sarah cleared her throat. It was about time to say something to the couple.

"So this is interesting John. You and the metal have completely ignored my request." Sarah said mildly, but her voice did not match the look in his mothers' eye.

It seemed that the cold calculating mind of Sarah Connor won over the openness her heart.

"I'm not at all surprised though." Sarah added taking a step forward to them. "I kind of figured this was bound to happen."

John said nothing, instead he tried to move around Cameron, away from her protection, Cameron however, tried to push him back behind her.

"I guess I just hoped that you would have made the right decision." She finished, looking sadly at her son. John noticed the disappointment in her eyes, something that John rarely witnessed.

She looked ashamed of him.

At this point, however, John really didn't care what she thought about Cameron. Not anymore.

"John, she doesn't care about you like you think she does." Sarah said as passionately as she could, her eyes pleading with her son. "It's her sole purpose to protect you and if she thinks dating you can help with that then she will."

At least that's what her mind hoped it was.

"She doesn't care mom?" John asked disbelievingly. "How in the hell do you know that?"

"You don't know mom." He said answering for her. "You see what you want to see. You only see her past. She is so much more than that. Why can't you see that? She's doing her best and at least she's trying, you know."

"All you see is Kyle! Goddamn it mom, the last time I checked it's not 1984." John challenged angrily.

Sarah fell silent for a moment as she watched her son start to shake his head, turning his head away to ignore her completely. Why was she failing to get him to understand? Her mind asked itself. He usually listened to her, especially when it came to metals. Now what? John and Cameron were dating?

The metal had won, plain and simple. Sarah knew that nothing short of a direct intervention with the Machine would change anything. She now had two choices.

The first choice was to follow Derek's idea and kill her outright. Blow that metal bitch back to the godforsaken Stone Age, but that plan was unfeasible, it would force them to move due to the amount of explosives they would have to use. Another reason was the potential danger to the three humans. Cameron would surely maim or kill them if the plan was not as precise as clockwork.

The second option was just as hard as killing it. Convincing Cameron to end the relationship before it got even more serious. This task would be much more difficult as Cameron had the potential to be very stubborn terminator. But if successful then perhaps it would resume its original role of a defender for John, back to the disposable machine that it was suppose to be.

But that didn't sit right with Sarah either. Ultimately Sarah decided, John would lose in both scenarios and Sarah just didn't have the heart in her anymore to do that. She was already a shitty mother to him, this would only make it much worse.

"What the hell do you know about Cameron anyway?" John asked, pulling Sarah out of her thoughts "All you see is what you want to see, an ideal terminator, some cold ruthless murderer." He paused for a breath. "Well Cameron is not like that anymore is yo.." John but trailed off quickly as the look Cameron had given him clearly stated that that had not really been the truth and he knew it.

"You know what never mind that question." John conceded. Grinning in response to the sight Cameron's beautiful smile, he added. "As long as you don't kill me, we're going be cool."

Cameron nodded and rubbed Johns' arm now that the pair of them were unknowingly ignoring both Sarah and Derek. Taking comfort in each other. Neither of the older people was amused by this.

"I would never kill you John." Cameron said in a soft flirtatious tone. John tilted his head to stare at the Cyborg intently.

"Well l never would on purpose at any rate." She corrected herself swiftly. John nodded in amusement and took her hand.

"That's more like it," John said enthusiastically. "Besides Cameron, the past is the past."

"I know it is John, So long as we maintain our personal relationship I think I will be able to refrain from killing." Cameron said knowing full well that it would get a rise out of John's very high strung mother.

"Why don't you two just shut the hell up?" Sarah exclaimed to no avail as both of them ignored her, much to her annoyance.

"So if we break up I'm pretty much a dead man?" John inquired with a mock serious look.

"Yes." Cameron informed him with a deadly serious look, causing Sarah to widen her eyes at the metal's admissions. John, on the other hand just laughed at her usual simple answer to everything.

"Well aren't I in a bit of a bind?" John laughed and pushed his Cybernetic girlfriend playfully away from him. "Looks like I'll have to stay with her am I right?"

Derek face broke in to a look of utter hate .He had enough of this shit.

"I think I can solve that little problem John." He stated out of blue, causing them all to look at him.

Derek suddenly pulled his pistol out and aimed at Cameron's center mass. John let go of Cameron's hand and spun around and reached into the motorcycles side bag and pulled the FN P90 he had stored there. He pointed it at Derek menacingly.

"Derek NO!" Sarah yelled at him roughly, knowing her words were futile. This was no longer drink every night sleep until 4pm Derek Reese. No this was the disciplined soldier Derek Reese that sometimes frightened her. He was a man who had been tortured by Skynet. This was the man who hated every fucking machine that got in his way.

"Drop the fucking gun Derek!" John screamed violently at his uncle. Derek looked at the small submachine gun in utter shock. His own nephew, pulling a gun on him faster than the metal. He also knew by the way that John held the gun that he was serious. He was not shaking the P90, General John Connor, leader of the Resistance was ready to fight.

"John what the hell is wrong with you?" Derek hissed uncertainly, his pistol still aimed at Cameron, who was looking at the gun curiously.

It was not as if she would sustain serious Damage from Derek Reese's Glock 19. John didn't seem to realize that, Cameron determined. It seemed that John was truly concerned for her, no matter what little damage she would sustain.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" John roared at him "fuck you Derek! You're the one who's threatening to harm Cameron!" John clicked the safety guard off the P90 and yelled "I'll blow out your fucking brains out if I have too."

"Connor this machine is gonna be the death of you," Derek tried to reason with John the best he could. "We have to get rid of her right now!"

"I don't have to do a GODDAMN THING YOU MISERABLE PIECE OF SH-"

"John, calm down, you don't have to defend me like this. I can handle it." Cameron said softly. Swiftly cutting off her boyfriend's rant she placed her arm around John's waist and looked at him kindly, but John wasn't convinced with Cameron's attempt to disregard her own safety.

"I'm pretty sick of this shit already Cameron," John argued heatedly " They have no right to threaten you. I won't allow them to."

"They are concerned about our relationship John. Violence is the only way Derek can express that concern. Many people from the future are like him." Cameron told him comfortingly squeezing him a little tighter then she already had. "Over 81.43 percent of your army suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the war with the machines. I would very likely include Derek Reese on that list."

"Shut the FUCK UP metal." Derek roared suddenly tightening his grip on the handgun, even harder then he already was.

"It is true, is it not Derek Reese?" Cameron replied, her voice sounding restless. "Humans have a very difficult time handling hardship. It is not a bad weakness to have, it makes you Hu-."

"Screw you metal! You know NOTHING about humans so just shut up!" he yelled, cutting Cameron off and pushing the gun at Cameron's face in a violent jerk. John glared darkly at his uncle coldly and reaffirmed his defensive posture.

"Derek back down, I'll kill you if I have to." John yelled back at him. Cameron softly nudged John to tell him without words to relax, John loosened his stance slightly giving Cameron a feeling of satisfaction before she turned her attention back to Derek and gave him an odd smile.

"My CPU contains numerous files on Advanced Human Psychology." Cameron informed the manic soldier politely. "I can understand how hard it would be to exist in a post nuclear war world."

"Shut up goddamnit SHUT UP!" Reese screamed at the cyborg who seemed to be unaffected by Derek's words.

Sarah raised her hands slowly. It was a small gesture of peace for the standoff that was occurring between Uncle and nephew. Cameron rubbed John's waist with her thumb trying to distract him from doing anything he might regret.

"John…please son, drop the gun, no one is going to hurt Cameron," Sarah said looking at Cameron reluctantly. The girl gave Sarah a pointed look back to her. "I promise that Derek won't do anything stupid."

"That's a pretty pointless promise," John replied sounding a little less angry "Especially since you hate her probably more than Derek does."

"Derek back down goddamnit!" Sarah suddenly roared at Derek. Derek looked from his target to Sarah and with a look of disgust slowly holstered his gun. John on the other hand did not move to put his away.

"John, please lower the gun." Cameron said to him sweetly. John did not hear her, his P90 was still pointed threateningly at his uncle.

"I understand that you are mad at Derek Reese for his transgression." Cameron whispered to him gently, trying to appeal to him. "Could you lower the gun, for me?"

John looked at the girl who was looking at him with her big brown eyes pleadingly. He sighed and smiled at her warmly. He lowered his submachine gun and allowed it to hang limply in his left hand causing Sarah to exhale in relief. John placed his right arm around Cameron's shoulder and allowed her to lean into him gently.

"Thank you for defending me John...I truly appreciate it." Cameron told him with a sincere smile. John nodded and smiled and leaned in to kiss her, despite Derek's sudden groan.

Cameron couldn't help it, she looked out of the corner of her vision for at John's mother's reaction. Her face turned slack jawed as she witnessed the machine and the human moving to each other in such a passionate way. Cameron pressed her lips against Johns and kissed him softly. They forgot, for the moment, about their two reluctant witnesses. They were consumed by their attraction for each other to care.

Cameron felt John's tongue touch her lips and opened her mouth in invitation. They soon found themselves in a heated battle for supremacy in the kiss. John, being human was the first one to break away, albeit reluctantly. He gave Cameron a smile and a look that clearly said he wanted to get the hell out of there.

The cyborg obliged and led him, her arm around his waist, back into the house. They passed in between Sarah and Derek, and John couldn't stop himself from bumping his shoulder as hard as he could into Derek's arm causing the man to stumble slightly. Derek grunted in anger at his nephew which caused Sarah to push him.

"Calm the fuck down Derek. You almost got your head blown off you idiot." Sarah hissed at Derek, fire was burning in her eyes.

"You're just going to let them get away with that?" Derek roared back into her face spraying the woman with spit. Sarah wiped her face and glared right back at him for his unsanitary behavior

"Quit being a baby." She replied in a low, dangerous tone. Derek just laughed, it was not a small chuckle, but rather a belly laugh that only seemed to annoy Sarah even more.

"Why don't you quit being a push over then," Derek said, his voice was still light hearted from his laugh "John has you wrapped around his finger. It's time that he grew up and for you to take charge."

Derek moved to the back of the truck and opened up the tail gate, allowing it to fall flat with a thud. He climbed in and started to pull out the equipment they had purchased. Sarah didn't bother to help him. She stood in place as she digested Derek's words.

"How dare you tell me how to raise my son Reese. He's a great kid." Sarah said finally to the man grabbing a box from the back of the truck.

"Exactly Sarah," Derek pointed out grabbing other box of ammunition and moving it on to the tailgate. "He's a kid, and we need a damn leader. Leaders make hard decisions and self sacrifice is one of those decisions."

"What do you want out of him you want him to give up Cameron without a fight?" Sarah asked incredulously. If Cameron and John wouldn't give each other up for Sarah, how in the hell would it work for Derek to ask politely.

"If he gives up the metal then I might start seeing a change." He told her seriously as he jumped out of the back of the truck with a dull thud.

"He might still" Sarah replied hopefully, causing Derek to scoff at her coldly.

"But he won't, don't you see?" Derek yelled at her miserably, "and it seems to me that you've fallen for his ploy. The machine can't love, it can't care, or even comprehend how important humanity is, and they're only here for one thing Sarah."

"Extinction," Derek stated bluntly "Total and utter extinction of our species."

"What have you seen Sarah?" He asked moving within arm's length of Sarah and poked her in hard in the chest. "Dreams? A few Terminators here and there?"

WELL I'VE SEEN IT CONNOR!" Derek roared nearly dropping several Ammo boxes filled with .50 Caliber rounds. Sarah's eyes widened as she noticed the enraged figure move towards her.

"I'VE SEEN THE EXTERMINATION! I've seen the murders of WOMAN AND CHILDREN THAT MACHINES LIKE CAMERON ARE CAPABLE OF COMMITTING." The bitter resistance fighter continued to scream at her. Sarah noticed Derek was shaking heavily from the frenzied insanity of his own words.

Sarah sudden found herself nearly scared of Kyle's older brother. She did not remember the last time Derek had ever blow up on her like this.

"Good humans, doing their duty" He continued rambling onwards. Sarah noticed the hate in his eyes. His hatred of the machines that destroyed his life. "THEY WERE TORTURED AND KILLED BY THOSE METAL FUCKS and for WHAT? A little piece of worthless information some poor fucker may or may not have?"

The elder Connor did not speak up again. Derek took several deep breathes in an attempt to calm himself down. Sarah thought it was now safer to move to him, she place a hand on his arm in an awkward comfort.

"Derek, are you Okay?" Sarah asked the very silent, half broken man standing next to her. He didn't reply, he merely shook his head and exhaled softly. After a moment Derek looked back up to Sarah with haunted eyes.

Sarah knew those eyes all too well. They were the same eyes that looked back at her every time she looked in the mirror.

"They say that a machine is never truly evil." Derek spoke up in a mournful utter. "That only man is capable of having hate in their heart."

Suddenly Derek's eyes engulfed again with complete vehemence.

"Well that is BULLSHIT SARAH and you FUCKING WELL KNOW IT." He screamed again at her, causing Sarah to twitch.

"Cameron is only using your son Sarah," Derek warned her dangerously. He reached in to Sarah's leather jacket's pocket and pulled out her pack of cigarettes. "It knows how close to victory humanity is, IT wants to manipulate John into some sort of future peace accord with the machines."

Derek pulled a cigarette out and placed it in his mouth to light it. As Derek inhaled the concentrated Cancer he closed his eyes for a moment of peace, forgetting John and the metal and Sarah for that one moment.

His thoughts traveled to his brother and silently wished for his soul to be at peace. Just like he had every night since he had discovered his little brother's fate. Derek opened his eyes again and saw the soft look Sarah was giving him.

After pulling the cigarette out of his mouth Sarah looked down at the ground again. Derek rubbed his neck and spoke up again.

"Peace with the metals is impossible Sarah. There can be no peace with them, only war. John has to be the one out there leading us against the machines." Derek stopped for only a second to allow it to sink in to Sarah before he added "There is no mercy, no peace agreements Sarah. Only killing, it's us or them and by god I'm not going to let our extinction occur."

Still Sarah could not look him in the eye.

"Look at me Sarah." He demanded Sarah ignored him, causing his rage to boil over again. "GODDAMMIT LOOK AT ME!"

Derek wrenched Sarah by the chin to get her to look at him. Sarah looked back at him finally, she had tears in her eyes.

"THEY"RE THE REASON I DON"T HAVE A BROTHER AND JOHN DOESN'T HAVE FATHER AND DON'T YOU FORGET THAT." He yelled loudly at her causing her to finch from the mention of Kyle.

"Do you think that the T-800 that Skynet sent back to kill you was bad?" Derek asked her curiously "The one that your son is falling in LOVE WITH is far more then that metal fucker who killed my brother."

"God what she did." Derek shuddered at the thought of what happened to poor Allison "What she has planned for your son...Cameron is the very definition of evil Sarah."

Derek noticed that the mist in her eyes had formed tears which were now rolling down her cheeks. He noticed her breathing had became shallow, but he didn't care.

"Other machines admit that they can't feel or love." Derek continued softly "Yet here this one is trying to feed us some bullshit story about actually caring about John beyond just her programming."

"And you're buying it as well aren't you? AREN'T YOU!" He roared at her for not answering him.

"I.." Sarah said weakly trying to wipe the tears from her eyes "I don't know."

Derek sneered at her and tossed the pack of cigarettes back to her.

"These next few years are crucial Sarah," Derek finally said. "Don't piss them away by letting him love a goddamn machine."

Derek gave her one last look and picked the ammo boxes off of the pavement and moved to enter the house. Sarah stood there speechless from Derek's manic rant, Sarah wiped the tears from her eyes. She felt miserable.

* * *

John and Cameron sat on the couch holding hands like a couple of schoolchildren when Sarah finally came into the house.

Both of them had ignored the grunts Derek had gave them as he lugged the weapons they had purchased downstairs. Sarah sat opposite of them, glaring primarily at Cameron. Cameron had, for the most part, reverted back to her former self, a simple expression and an unnatural silence about her. It was unnerving to the other woman. It was as if she was staring into Sarah's very soul.

However, when Sarah was either yelling at Derek or helping him out Cameron would steal a quick glance, or a small kiss from John's cheek. It made the show down slightly more bearable for him to manage, it was evidence that even though Cameron had frozen up, and she was still there for him.

John sighed slightly and looked around the room, boredom very present on his face. Cameron turned and noticed it.

"Boredom does not suit you John, perhaps we should go upstairs," Cameron told him and placed her hand on to his leg and rubbed it causing John to shudder unconsciously' "I would like to have sex with you in your room."

"Are you crazy?" John asked her lightly, doing his best to hide his blush. "Moms already on the verge of killing me and you want to poke the bear? I mean not that I wouldn't want to." He added to her with a lecherous grin.

Cameron smiled back and batted her eyes almost flirtatiously.

"Your mother is not a bear John, procreation with a bear would not end with you as a result." Cameron informed John seriously. John slapped his forehead. His hand gesture made Cameron smile even more deviously.

"No I meant...you know what? Forget about it." John said hastily, still mildly annoyed by the smile Cameron was giving him.

"I like to make you frustrated sometimes John," Cameron informed him lightly, she rubbed a stray piece of hair out of his eyes "it is very amusing."

"I guess that's better then laughing at my misfortunes." He shot back to her, a small grin on his face. Cameron tilted her head a little as she absorbed his words.

"Oh I still find that very amusing as well." Cameron replied her eyes looking into his.

"I bet you do."

Cameron smiled again and softly kissed John's cheek.

"Having fun?" Sarah asked coldly when she returned to her seat. John pulled away from Cameron, who turned her head back to Sarah.

"Yes Sarah, John had informed me that I should not poke the bear. Apparently it is a very dangerous act." Cameron told her despite John giving her the signal to stop talking

"Real cute." Sarah said glaring at her son who smiled sheepishly.

"It is isn't it mom?" John said wickedly, he watched his mother closely for any sign of defiance.

"You better watch yourself John," Sarah warned her son. She leaned back into her chair and scowled at the pair of them " You're lucky I'm too hungover to talk to you tonight." John snorted at his mother's words whereas Cameron gave her what looked like a concerned look.

"Are you okay Sarah?" Cameron asked Sarah tentatively "I recommend that you consume at least three large glasses of water and go to sleep as soon as possible, it will help you recover for tomorrow."

"I don't need your help, just be quiet." Sarah muttered hurtfully causing Cameron to look down, feeling slightly downcast.

"Oh...okay" Cameron muttered back letting go of John's hand and moved it back to rest in her lap. John noticed her sudden shift in attitude and suddenly felt like his mother needed to get her ass dropped by Cameron, but Cameron wouldn't do that, even if John gave her permission.

"Go to bed John, now." Sarah only said, ignoring the pair of them.

"Come on Cameron," John said standing up and extending his hand to Cameron who took it with a renewed smile. "I'm kind of tired anyway, who would have guessed that nearly blowing my uncles head clean off wears a guy out."

John and Cameron moved to the staircase. Quickly leaving behind a now suddenly very lonely feeling Sarah Connor.

"So today was certainly eventful wouldn't you agree?" John asked closing his bedroom door behind him. Cameron turned her head to smile at him in agreement.

"Of course John." Cameron agreed. She turned the rest of her body to focus on John "There is a 73.32 percent chance that this will eventually blow over."

John sauntered over to his girlfriend and took hold of her by the waist and pressed his lips to hers fiercely, starling the usually unshakable Terminator, who wrapped her arms around his neck kissing back as hard as she could. She allowed John to walk her backwards and fell on to the bed giggling slightly.

John chuckled and ran his lips down to her neck and started to kiss it gently causing Cameron to moan in delight and latched her mouth on to John's neck in return. She moved her tongue in slow, circular movements.

Several moments flew by before John began moving his lips down Cameron's neck eventually reaching her chest. His lips met the edge of her breasts. John didn't notice her look of surprise. He only vaguely felt Cameron's legs rubbing together under his own.

Cameron grabbed hold of Johns' hair and twisted her head in sudden fascination. The new sensation she was experiencing was unexplainable. She never knew these kinds of feelings before. As quickly as it started it ended as John seemed to gain some composure, much to Cameron's disappointment. She really wanted more than the taste John had given her.

"What was that for John?" Cameron asked him in a soft whisper. John chuckled and kissed the edge of her lips.

"I don't know."John replied honestly as Cameron grazed his cheek with her hand. 'I guess I just couldn't resist you in that light."

Cameron merely smiled at him.

"Hey Cameron," John asked her feeling slightly embarrassed "Do you think mom will mind it when we start having sex?"

"Yes John," Cameron answered truthfully biting on her lip still running a hand through John's hair. "I believe your mother will be very disgusted by us if you don't mind me saying."

"I don't know if we should continue Cameron." John said reluctantly. Cameron looked slightly put off, but nevertheless spoke up, doing her best not to sound resentful.

"Is this decision possibly a result of guilt because of your mother and her anger towards us?"

"Yes that's about right." John agreed.

"John I do not mind if we poke the bear as you said so cleverly," Cameron told him she rubbed her legs together again and sighed slightly at the thoughts of John's lips on her skin. "I have never felt these sensations before. Never in my entire existence. I would really like to continue this."

"I know you would, but we have plenty of time for that," John told her, placing a hand on her right cheek and rubbing it gently with his thumb. "I just want things to cool down here first, do you understand why?"

Cameron looked at him reluctantly and nodded her head slowly.

"I will wait." Cameron said finally smiling at John. "I do not know how long I can wait, but I will try. "

"Good, I promise you it'll be worth it."

After a moment of silence John yawned loudly and stretched his arms out Cameron noticing his exhaustion pushed him off of her and rolled him back onto bed.

"You need to sleep John. I will not allow you to be sleep deprived." The cyborg informed John dutifully. He nodded distractedly and yawned again.

"Are you going to go to sleep tonight Cameron?" John asked her finally, curiosity getting the better of him Cameron nodded and smiled knowingly. She wanted to remain at his side as well.

"Yes I will John, but I will stay awake." she said softly placing a blanket over John and rubbed his forehead playfully "I suspect that Sarah Connor will want to speak with me tonight, I would like it to happen while you are asleep."

"Okay, but you better come to bed tonight, I don't think that I will dream well without you here with me."

"I hope that tonight I will have a better dreams then last night." Cameron said trying to sound enthusiastic.

"I hope so too," John agreed with Cameron laying a hand on her own. "The last thing this house needs is another moody female."

Cameron smacked John's hand playfully in response.

"I resent that statement John despite how accurate it may actually be." she said humorously, her smile widened. John shook his head before resting it back into the pillow and relaxed his body, feeling very tired all of a sudden.

"Good night Cameron." John whispered to the girl laying next to him.

"Good night my John." Cameron said back him. She kissed his forehead and then lowered her lips to his. John smiled at her one last time and closed his eye and begun to drift off to sleep peacefully.

* * *

It was 2AM and Sarah was miserable. She had been standing outside of John's room for 45 minutes trying to will herself to go in. She knew that Cameron, the machine, was in there, waiting for her just like Sarah would have expected from her.

Sarah finally opened the door slowly. The first thing she noticed was Cameron. The girl cyborg was sitting on the edge of John's bed brushing his cheek softly. She watched the metal's affectionate interaction with her son silently. How could this be happening she thought. She would never have believed it possible if it wasn't happening right in front of her.

She leaned on the door to watch Cameron, feeling apprehensive of the situation. This machine was clearly in love, no matter how much she denied the very idea. No matter how much she wanted to fight it.

More than that was her son's feelings for Cameron. No matter how much she hated to admit it, her son was in love as well.

"He looks peaceful Sarah Connor." Cameron said out loud to no one in particular. "Please refrain yourself by not disturbing him."

"I like how he sleeps." Cameron informed a very silent Sarah Connor softly "It is like he forgets about knowing what will happen to him. The look on his face seems more relaxed then I have ever seen him since I have met him."

Still, Sarah said nothing to Cameron.

"You really hate me Sarah." Cameron said observantly her eyes looked up at Sarah. "Don't you?"

Sarah's eyes narrowed at her. She wanted to scream at the machine, she wanted to yell and rage at the top of her lungs, she wanted to tell her how disgusted she was with it, She wanted to vent the past three days worth of anger from knowing what they were doing.

But she did not yell, the machine was concerned about her son. So she would abide by Cameron's request.

"Your reasons for hating me are understandable." Cameron said to her still stroking John's face softly. "What happened to you back in 1984 was horrible. But I am not the T-800 who killed hi-."

"It doesn't matter whether you are the same machine or not Tin Miss, you were still built by the same maker, a machine with a tendency for wiping out people like John." Sarah said venomously cutting straight across Cameron's statement. Cameron closed her mouth and allowed Sarah to continue.

"I don't know what's gotten in to you to think that you have the capability to love him." Sarah said to her, her voice tightened at the word _'love'_ "You have lied and you have tried to kill him. What? Do you feel guilty about that night?"

"Yes." Cameron whispered looking down at the ground.

"We have had this conversation many times Sarah." Cameron told her seriously. Sarah sneered at the cyborg as menacingly as she could.

"And this conversation will always come up Cameron." Sarah replied "His death would have been on your hands."

"Sarah I already feel guilty for what I did." She informed the older woman in a patient voice.

"Bullshit." Sarah hissed at her as deadly as she could. Cameron did not feel the fear she merely shrugged it off and spoke up again

"I do Sarah," Cameron insisted to Sarah in an almost urgent tone "But John has forgiven me for it, he knows that I did not mean it, I was sick and I did something I never meant to do."

"You were sick?" Connor replied in disbelief. "That's an understatement. Cameron you tried to kill him!"

"Is that the only argument you have Sarah Connor?" Cameron asked her curiously Sarah noticed through the light from the hallway that Cameron's facial expression changed, her usually impassive facial features shifted into a look of utter tiredness.

"I am growing tired of it." Cameron said in a forced polite tone "I made a single mistake in my existence and that was many months again."

"It doesn't matter if it's your first mistake or not, you are a threat to my son" Sarah said feeling her temper rise and you're a threat to the future.

"Sarah arguing is irrelevant we both hold the same value for your son." Cameron informed, She fell silent and added quickly "I want you to not hate me Sarah, I understand that John's and my relationship is a sore point right now."

"You don't want me to hate you?" Sarah tried to yell, but her voice didn't allow it. "I thought machines didn't give a shit if they're hated."

"That is a usually correct assessment Sarah Connor." Cameron conceded to the older woman dutifully "However in this case I wish we could build a friendship."

"You want to fuck my son and try to be friends with me?"Sarah whispered in disbelief at the gall that machine had to think that something like a friendship could ever occur "You better choose one or the other because you sure as hell aren't getting both."

Cameron looked at the ceiling thoughtfully for only a moment to contemplate her words.

After finishing her thoughts Cameron smiled at Sarah and said "Very well Sarah, since I have a 93.46 percent chance of engaging in sexual activities within the next week with John I will have to go with him."

"Sarah," Cameron noticing the look of pure disgust on Sarah's face "You and I both share common value for your son."

"The same value right?" Sarah asked mockingly. Cameron nodded in agreement not all acknowledging the cynical look John's mother had been giving him.

"Yes." Cameron said effortlessly.

Sarah and Cameron fell silent for a moment as John shifted in his sleep, Cameron smiled at the movement and removed her hand from him. Sarah on the other hand merely watched expressionlessly.

"What is your primary mission?" Sarah ordered loudly. She watched as the machine eyes glowed Blue as it listed its Primary mission parameters

"To ensure the survival of John Connor." The machine replied in her usual monotone voice. Sarah nodded in agreement.

"Your very presence here is a security risk Cameron, don't you see it?" Sarah explained to Cameron hoping that she would listen to her. She was, she listened to Sarah's words very carefully.

"How so Sarah?"

"You tried to kill him already Cameron that by itself should warrant you to end your protection of him," Sarah stated crossing her arms and looked into Cameron's eyes "What makes you think that you won't do it again Cameron, what if I'm not around to stop it again? Can you really take that risk Cameron?"

"If you really care for him Cameron. You need to stop seeing him." She finished in the nicest, most polite voice she had.

Cameron tilted her head and regarded the words Sarah had said, in the end Sarah was right, she was already a liability to John, a machine that wanted to be like him, and a machine that wanted to be human had no real use to Sarah and Derek.

They would never understand what John was doing for her. How John inspired her to change the way she wanted to be. She did not want to solely exist anymore, she wanted to live she wanted to learn and dream and believe and have faith.

How could something as simple as that be so terrible to people like Sarah?

Cameron already had the answer though. The actions of Skynet were solely in black and white. In so doing Humans like Sarah didn't have the ability to see in gray. People like Sarah Connor were the only reason, the only thing that stood in the way peace between man and machine.

But these were just personal speculations, it had no merit to what happened in this world. And Sarah was the ultimate figure of authority in this house.

"Are you saying that I should cut off our relationship for the sake of his safety?" Cameron said in a small voice. Sarah was surprised at the weakness in the otherwise usually strong voice the Cyborg possessed.

Cameron stood up from the bed and stopped by John's Computer and opened the drawer silently. Cameron reached in and pulled what looked like a medium sized switchblade. She closed the drawer lightly in an effort to not disturb John while he slept. The machine looked around and moved towards Sarah slowly.

With a single movement Cameron flipped the blade open causing Sarah to jump back from the knife in fear.

"What are you going to do?" Sarah asked doing her very best to hide the fear in her voice. Cameron did not answer her back.

"Cameron what are you going to do?" Sarah stated challengingly. She hoped that she was ready for whatever the metal had planned for her.

Still, the cyborg said nothing to her.

Out of the blue, she stopped less than a meter away from Sarah and gave her a foreboding look, Cameron raised the knife and moved it to the back of her head. With two stokes the knife penetrated Cameron's skin and hit her endoskeleton. Cameron gave John's mother a mild, almost bored look. Cameron pulled the knife out of the flesh and raised her hands to peel her skin to expose her CPU.

Cameron handed Sarah the knife handle first who stared at the knife in complete confusion.

"Take it," was all the Terminator told the human.

Sarah obliged Cameron and took John's switchblade from her, looking into Cameron's eyes.

"Remove my CPU, break it if you must." Cameron informed her deathly quietly. "Kill me."

And there it was. Cameron was giving her permission to remove her from existence. This was too good to be true. She could turn that metal bitch off forever, she could spare her son the betrayal he would surely receive from it.

"Go ahead I will not fight you Sarah." Cameron said softly as if she had read Sarah's thoughts with great ease. "You can terminate me without fear of reprisal."

Cameron turned around and lowered her head a she looked at the ground, trying her best not to show the sudden surge of fear she was feeling.

"Please get this done as soon as you can, I do not want to wait in suspense for my deactivation."

_'Come on Sarah you can do it, you can end her now no harm no foul...'_ Sarah thought to herself edging the knife at the back of the machines Coltan skull. This was easy insert knife pop out CPU snap it in half, as easy as breathing.

"Just...please tell John that I love him. Is that okay?" Cameron said suddenly, her voice broke out into a sob that reminded Sarah of the night of the incident.

_'Don't do it! This is wrong Sarah and you know it_, another voice told her firmly. _'John will hate you for as long as you live, you don't need that on your conscience.' _

Sarah felt the knife suddenly started to shake in her hand. Sarah glanced over Cameron's shoulder and looked at her son still deep in sleep. Sarah inhaled deeply to steady herself there was no way she could back down now.

"_Something is wrong with the machine. It could become dangerous. Destroying the machine now makes sense." _The voice her head echoed in her head mirroring what Derek had told her.

_'Killing her isn't right'_ the second voice tried to reason with her_ 'something is happening, but it isn't as much of a threat as Derek wanted to make it out to be.'_

Cameron maintained her silence, her bottom lip was quivering. She thought of John, She hoped that John would not hate his mother, her actions would have merit. Still, Cameron thought to herself, she wanted to live. She wanted to be loved and cherished and cared for. She wanted to be accepted by the Connors, not viewed as a machine. Not viewed as freak.

So why was she allowing Sarah Connor to kill her?

Because she just wanted to be loved, even if it took her death.

_'No'_ Sarah thought to herself_ 'Cameron doesn't die today.'_

Sarah vaguely felt the switchblade slide out of her hand and hit the ground with a dull thud. There was an awkward silence as Cameron realized what had happened. She had been spared. Sarah did not want to kill her. Sarah wanted to give chance to prove herself.

Cameron's face lit up in excitement and turned around eagerly to give her thanks to Sarah for the chance. But she wasn't there she was the only person in the room.

After a while she slowly walked towards the lit hallway, her sensors told her to look down, at the now sitting image of Sarah Connor. She was sitting against the wall staring off into space. Cameron walked over to her and stopped right next to her.

"Why did you not deactivate me Sarah?" Cameron asked Sarah, her cold eyes searched the older woman's curiously. "I gave you permission to end me at your discretion...you could have deactivated me permanently, why did you not do it?"

Sarah continued to stare ahead at the other side of the hallway.

"I don't know, I just couldn't." Sarah replied to no one in particular.

"I was very certain that you would do so." Cameron observed carefully, she was still feeling slightly worried that Sarah would changed her mind and decided to attack her. "You despise my existence."

Sarah didn't answer her. She was crashing from the lack of whiskey and Vicodin's in her system and she was burnt out from a lack of sleep as well. Even the machine was questioning Sarah's motives.

"Do you think that I like being a machine?" Cameron suddenly said aloud catching Sarah off guard. Sarah could have swore she saw what looked like a haunted look, a look that clearly told her that she wasn't lying about her words.

"I don't have a purpose other then what I am programmed to do. Does that sound like a satisfactory existence to you Sarah Connor?" Cameron asked her pointedly, her words were darker then she had ever heard from the machine.

"No...It doesn't." Sarah admitted to the cyborg.

"You are correct Sarah."

"I envy you Sarah do you not see?" Cameron admitted to her lowering her head away from Sarah "I envy humanity and it's self determination no matter good or bad you have a choice in what you do."

"I was built by Skynet and controlled by Skynet. It made me commit horrible acts Sarah." She said sadly she ran her hand in an almost nervous fashion across her neck. "I do not know the extent of what I have done. I am not sure if I even want to know."

"All I know is what I have learned from your son in our short time together. He has shown me more affection, more love then I ever dared to dream of." Cameron said with a warm smile thinking of her John sleeping, dreaming of her hopefully. "He has shown me the goodness that humanity has and the potential each and every human can utilize."

Cameron's brief smiled turned back into a mournful look. The thought of humanity and her lack of it had upset her again.

It had seemed clear to her that the bitterness wasn't just going to stop.

"I do not understand humans fully yet Sarah, I strongly believe that it will take a long time before I even reach halfway" Cameron said sounding nearly ready to cry. "But I want to learn Sarah, I want to learn because I feel John is worth that much." Sarah looked up at the cyborg she suddenly felt completely numbed by her words.

"Will you harm him? She asked Cameron in an almost childish fashion.

"John is my existence Sarah, I do not wish to live without him as you witnessed back in his room." Cameron replied sincerely placing a tentative hand on to Sarah's arm. Sarah looked at it vaguely and gave her a half smile.

"I've learned something from you Sarah." Cameron said, catching the woman's attention again. Sarah looked into the terminators eye curiously.

"You have?"

"Yes, would you like to know?" Cameron asked the older woman.

Sarah shrugged her shoulders and said "Sure."

"I learned that being a good mother means that you are always preparing your offspring for what may happen in the world."Cameron started she rubbed the back of her head where the skin was still dangling of her head "A good mother loves and cares for her children despite any mistake the child might make."

"A good mother is ready to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the ones they love." Cameron said, after a moment Cameron smiled and added "She also has the ability to allow her son the chance to have a relationship with a girl she doesn't approve of."

Sarah snorted and laughed at Cameron's words. She looked up at Cameron and gave her a real smile, which slightly surprised the TOK-715. It took several moments to get Cameron back on track.

"Sarah I have determined that you are quite possibly one of the best mothers in the world," Cameron said kindly "I do not think that John would want you to run yourself down."

"I also understand that our relationship is going to be very touchy," Cameron said trying her best to empathize with Sarah. "I promise I will do what I can to alleviate those concerns for you. It is the least I can do for you."

Sarah said nothing to the cyborg she merely kept her head lowered looking as if she had been in deep thought. She didn't have a reply to the idea of her son and Cameron being together, but, she would allow it, for John's sake.

"I am going to lay down next to John, if you do not mind." Cameron informed her, it was not request Sarah noticed Cameron meant business, Sarah had no energy to argue with the cyborg anymore.

"One more thing Sarah if you do not mind as well." Cameron added after a moment of silence. Sarah merely shrugged her shoulders.

"Not at all."

"Thank you for sparing my life." Cameron said tenderly, her voice seemed to hold genuine gratitude. Something that took Sarah by surprise "I am very grateful."

With that said, Cameron gave her one last smile and walked back into John's room and closed the door as quietly as she could. Leaving Sarah Connor on the floor silently finding herself very touched by Cameron's oddly comforting words. For once in her life, she was wrong.

Sarah pulled out a cigarette from her pack and lit it up silently. She closed her eyes and sighed.

Maybe Cameron wasn't so bad after all.


	6. Observations

**Chapter Six: Observation**

**

* * *

**

The next day seemed to pass without much incident. Sarah didn't seem to give any thought about their schooling, so both Cameron and John decided to just skip class. It was a relief for John, who didn't want to have to maintain the ridiculous story of them being brother and sister story. It was becoming very frustrating, especially for Cameron.

It seemed far too restrictive on her and she had become more and more disenchanted by the cover story John's mother had developed. Cameron had begun to realize why that cover story had been developed. Even in the early days Sarah had felt threatened by her presence, even back then it seemed that she was scared of Cameron.

Cameron had felt a degree of surprise when she first realized this. Of course she was a different cybernetic organism than from before the explosion. Sarah hadn't bothered to talk to her. They had instead come to an uneasy truce, even if it was shaky at best. This did not bother Cameron, Sarah deserved peace of mind if that was what she wanted.

What irked Cameron was John's sudden apprehension of showing a lot of public affection. She did not like him "stepping on eggshells" as he had once put it. It bothered her deeply that she was now receiving only 63 percent of their usual physical contact. Less than usual since they had begun their romantic relationship.

At the moment John was in his room doing his homework. Why he was doing it himself was beyond her. He knew that all he had to do was ask her and she would gladly do it for him. It would only take her approximately 9 minutes to complete. It really would be more efficient. She was even capable of mimicking his handwriting and writing style.

Instead Cameron was sitting on her bed looking at her wardrobe intently, today was her meeting with Catherine Weaver, CEO of Zeira Corporation. Cameron found herself with a sudden curiousness about their planned meeting. What did this woman know about her and the Connors, she had promised John that she would bring her USP for her own personal protection, but now that she was analyzing the situation, she realized that she might need it for another reason entirely. It was possible that Catherine Weaver needed to be silenced.

She turned her attention back to the wardrobe and rescanned it closely. Once again she found nothing that matched her search parameters as appropriate for a business meeting. She would have to allow some time so that she could acquire an outfit since it would only take her 7.42 minutes to find what she needed.

Her eyes moved to her closed door and she allowed herself to sigh at the upsetting fact that John was not there with her. Suddenly a smile formed on her face as her CPU finished developing a plan to get John to stop paying attention to his unnecessary homework and to start paying more necessary attention to her.

In less than a second Cameron had stood up and pulled off her t-Shirt and slid out of her pants, revealing a matching set of dark violet bra and Hipster panties. She walked over to her door with a determined stride. The terminator opened the door and scanned the hallway closely. The vicinity was clear. She smiled, satisfied that Derek Reese and Sarah Connor were not waiting for her with the intention of stopping her from getting to John.

"John, are you busy?" Cameron called out from her doorway. Her sensors picked up auditory signals consistent with those of female snoring coming from Sarah's room. It was obvious that the woman was asleep. That would prove beneficial for both Sarah and Cameron, for very different reasons of course.

"No just wrapping up in here," She heard John yell back. "What do you need?"

"I need your assistance." she replied in a simple tone.

"I'll be in there in a minute Cameron. Can it wait?" John asked her curiously. The cyborg concluded that John must have been deep in his school work.

_It was time to change tactics_ Cameron thought t_o _herself_._

"No John," Cameron said lowering her voice to a perfect seductive tone, the change in her voice made John's ears perk up. It cannot wait any longer John, I need you in here right now."

Cameron's auditory sensor picked up the scraping of John's chair and the sound of his door opening with a sudden yank. She smiled and ducked back into her room and hid slightly behind the doorway silently.

John's footsteps drew closer causing Cameron to smile to herself in anticipation of his arrival. John entered the room swiftly, his eyes darting around the room. Cameron smiled at the very stupid look that John seemed to have had spread on his face.

"Yes..." John looked around the room at the lack of his cyborg girlfriend, "Cameron?" The door suddenly slammed behind him causing him to jump a few centimeters into the air.

John turned around and saw Cameron standing behind him her head slightly tilted. Her smile was seductive and it caused John's mouth to hang open at the sight. Cameron raised her eyebrows at his stupefied features.

"Oh." John managed to say finally, looking completely stunned "ah..Hey Cameron."

"Hello John." Cameron said in a throaty voice making John shudder slightly at her emphasis of his name.

"What's up Cameron?" He managed to ask. Cameron merely smiled and looked down at her half naked, perfectly built body and back up at him, her eyes glistening with what John thought was pure unadulterated lust, John noticed Cameron's chest rising and falling as she inhaled and exhaled rapidly.

"I think you know what." She whispered as she started to walk slowly over to him, a smile still playing on her lips. John shook his head slightly to clear the fog from his mind and raised his eyes from her chest back to her eyes.

"I do not like you doing your homework and avoiding me," Cameron informed him, half serious half teasingly. "It makes me rather worried that you do not like me anymore."

Cameron gave John a small pout and played with her bra strap absently. Moving the strap down her arm. John groaned inwardly at her actions, the way she was looking at him was going to be the death of him he was sure.

"It's not like that at all Cam," John denied almost wildly. "You know that." Cameron allowed the pout to fall and replaced it with a serious look.

"But I don't John," She said to him stopping mere inches away from him. She pressed her hand to his chest and rubbed it in a circular movement. "You see for the last day and a half I have been waiting for you from across the hall, waiting for a surprise visit."

She smiled again in a devious fashion.

"I must admit that you have willpower is very strong." She admitted dutifully. John smiled at her words.

"Is that a good thing?" He asked, his smile still playing on his lips.

"Yes," She said, tilting her head slightly and reaffirming the look of want she had been giving him. "Usually it is, but in this case it is a rather a large hindrance to my needs, I want you John and you have been teasing me for far too long."

His cybernetic girlfriend took a half step closer and moved her hand upwards and across the nape of his neck. She bit her lip and gave John a very longing look.

"I would be mad at you if I was not so sexually aroused by you." Cameron stated very bluntly. Her lips pressed against his ear and nibbled his earlobe softly, causing John to squirm in sudden pleasure.

Cameron pulled back and took two steps back from him. In one movement Cameron unclasped her violet bra and removed it. Spilling her breast and revealing them to John, whose mouth dropped at the sight. Cameron smiled seductively and hooked her thumbs in the sides of her panties.

This was not the first time he had seen her like this. It is was certainly different, however, as usually Cameron expression remained blank and unconcerned when it came to exposing her body, this time she actually seemed to like.. John corrected himself swiftly. No she seemed to enjoy his eyes examining her closely.

"By the expression on your face you certainly seem to be enjoying the sight." Cameron observed carefully.

"You could definitely say that." John agreed weakly, feeling a sudden urge to take her in his arms and ravish her with every drop of the frantic energy he could feel pulsing through his body.

"You want me, don't you?" Cameron asked him huskily, John could feel his mouth go numb and found himself unable to articulate any kind of intelligible response. So he chose to merely nodded his head in agreement, making Cameron smile even wider.

"Why don't you come here and take me then," Cameron asked him slyly "I have been waiting for five and a half days for you to do so. That's five days too long John."

He didn't need to be asked again.

John moved in on her quickly, slamming his lips onto hers explosively. Cameron gripped his head tightly, running her hands through his hair wildly. Without out any prior thought she ran one of her hands down his chest as their tongues twisted around each other in Cameron's mouth. It wasn't long before she felt John's hand slide up from her waist slowly and move to cup her right breast. She widened her eyes as John ran a thumb across one of her hypersensitive nipples.

There was a common human misconception in the year 2029 about Infiltrators like herself. It was common to belief that only humans felt pain, pleasure, all the physical sensation that humans took for granted. This knowledge helped the John's resistance forces greatly when dealing with Skynet's infiltrators, at least it had until she had been built.

Skynet had spent many years patiently developing a fully functional central nervous system for a more effective cover for its future infiltrators. She had been the first to receive the fully functioning upgrade. Cameron usually ran this program at 23 percent nerve strength, strong enough to notice most physical sensations like pain, but low enough to ignore everything else.

By the time she and John had started to see each other Cameron had decided to turn up her nerve reaction to 77 percent to get a better understanding of what affection felt like. After the close encounter on Wednesday night though Cameron wanted more, much more.

So Cameron had decided to activate her nerves sensors at slightly 4.3 percent over the normal human level of feeling.

And she was enjoying every moment of it.

Her eyes widened at the sudden nerve shock she received from John's lips on her firm breasts. The sensation was better than anything she had ever felt in her life, the passion she had first felt Wednesday was back, she was more than excited to test how much more she could feel.

She didn't notice herself being backed up to her wall or even notice the notice that had been flashing in her Heads Up Display telling her that she was now down to less than thirty minutes to leave and get to ZeiraCorps by 3:45 PM.

Her CPU was solely focused on the sensation of John's lips resting over her breast and his tongue as it trailed along her flesh and around her areolas. Her eyes widened even more, she looked over at her mirror and noticed quickly that they held the same look that John had earlier, and her eyes were as glazed over as his.

Cameron moaned unexpectedly and clenched her legs together tightly. She took John's head in her hands and raised it reluctantly. John was now looking her in the eyes their noses were barley touching.

"John I thought you'd like a little taste of what you have been doing to me," Cameron whispered to him weakly. "The flirting, the kisses, the way you touch me. It causes me to lose myself, I become inefficient when you do these things to me."

"You mean I drive you wild?" John asked as he pressed his lips against Cameron's neck, which caused Cameron to lightly squirm in his arms helplessly. Cameron closed her eyes and looked up the word John had classified her as being.

_Wild..Definition...2 found..._

_(1):living in a state of nature and not ordinarily tame or domesticated (See __Untamed)_

_(2)__**:**__ emotionally overcome (wild with passion)_

"You think that I am wild from emotional outburst then?" Her voice cracked slightly from the emotions running through her. She could have spoken normally if she chose to, but to do so would have forced her to focus her processes on her voice synthesizer. Without doing do, her voice synthesizer was influenced by her emotions. She didn't want to control those emotional responses.

"Yes," John replied bluntly in between kisses.

"Good, I had anticipated that this would happen," Cameron admitted pushing her shoulders back and pressing her breasts into John's chest. "It appears that activating all my nerve endings was a very interesting experiment."

"Do you want to continue?" John asked her flirtatiously. Cameron smile turned into a frown and shook her head rather reluctantly.

"No." Cameron replied equally bluntly catching John off guard, last time he checked Cameron wanted him very badly and now, it seemed, he was the one getting the shaft.

"No?" John asked her curiously, his voice seemed strained from the perceived rejection.

"You want to wait John," Cameron said discreetly. Wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him back closer to her "Then I suppose we will have to wait."

Before John could respond, Cameron continued.

"Consider this a retaliation John." She said seriously, doing her best to fight off the smile she wanted to give him for the expression he had on his face. "This is for what you have been putting me throughout these past few days.

She finally decided to give John a warm smile. Gently she wiggled out of John's tight grasp and walked over to her bed.

"John my meeting is today as you know," Cameron said to him softly sitting down on her bed and started to fix her hair as much as possible "Could you help me pick out something to wear?"

"Not really my specialty Cameron." John told her weakly, his eyes still very much focused on the very naked Cyborg. Cameron merely shrugged her shoulders.

"Just look in my closet and pull out what you like," She replied informatively smiling at John, letting him know that she was aware of his gaze.

He turned reluctantly away from her and went into the closest, John groaned inwardly at the task as he took a look at its contents, he shrugged slightly and pulled out what looked like her purple leather jacket, a pair of Black jeans and a black tank top.

"Um...what about this one?" John asked her as he turned around and show it to her "It usually works when you wear it."

Cameron merely shook her head in disagreement.

"Too causal." she said to him firmly.

John turned back to closet and placed the coordinated clothing back into place. He rummaged through the outfits again and found himself looking at a medium length black dress. He pulled it out and turned back to Cameron holding the dress out.

"What about this?" He asked her but again she shook her head in disagreement.

"No I intend on saving that dress for Derek's funeral." She told her boyfriend seriously. John gave her an odd look of foreboding.

"Derek's not dead you know." John said in an equally serious voice.

"No." Cameron said her face showing no reaction to the subject of their discussion. "But when he does this dress will give me ample room to dance on his ashes."

"Not really funny Cameron." Her boyfriend informed carefully noticing the half smile she was giving him.

"I thought it was," Cameron sighed, breaking in to a frown. "I guess it was a miss." John nodded and turned back to the closet to find another outfit.

"John you can stop now." She stated to him and watched him as he turn back to look at her once again. "I have searched eight times already."

"Then why get me to look?" He asked her in disbelief.

Cameron shrugged and stated."I suppose to determine what kind of clothing you would like me to wear."

Cameron, for the first time that day seemed to be self conscious. John found it very odd that she was concerned about her clothing, particularly since the last time he checked, machines didn't really give much thought to fashion. But then again, Cameron's love of her purple leather jacket could have been a sign that she was different in that way compared to other Infiltrators.

"Well as long as you're in them, I couldn't care more." John told her finally, making Cameron smile at his suddenly sweet words.

"It seems that I require a two piece business outfit," Cameron informed John slowly. "It will need to be formal enough to wear to a business meeting and concealing enough to hide my .45 USP."

John nodded and sat down next to her. He placed an arm around Cameron's shoulders which Cameron copied and looked at him smiling slightly.

"I need another favor John." Cameron asked him gently.

John, still annoyed slightly from rejection from the usually willing Terminator sighed loudly and asked "What is it Cameron?"

"I need you to run interference on Derek." Cameron stated as she pulled a loose bang back and put it into her ponytail firmly "I am going to steal his bike, I do not want to be bothered by him."

"Aren't you an evil little thing," John said in a wicked tone and pushed her playfully away from him "First you get me all worked up and then tell me to make that lunatic even madder then he already is?"

"Yes I am evil," Cameron confirmed to John with a small smirk, causing John to chuckle appreciatively. "Now that I have admitted to it, would you please just kiss me again? I require it at this very moment."

"I don't know if I should."John teased her looking at her still naked body and taking note of her sudden shiver.

"It is your choice of course John, "The female conceded to him, her eyes scanned his own. "I just hope you will make the right one."

John connected his lips to her and pressed hard, he felt her tongue enter his mouth and he allowed her to be the dominate one in their passionate kiss. After less a few seconds Cameron broke it off and grabbed on to John's chin firmly.

"I knew that you would not deny me." Cameron said in a positively ecstatic tone. "If you do not mind could you release your hold on my breast, I must get dressed."

Cameron gestured to John's hand which had found its place once again on her. John gave her an embarrassed grin and let it go reluctantly.

"Oh okay." John said in understanding and stood up to walked towards the door to give Cameron some privacy for her sake as well as his own, maybe use the time to take an ice cold shower. However, the second his hand touched the door he felt a light tap on his shoulder, He turned his head hastily and noticed Cameron standing there with an odd smile and a raised eyebrow.

"Did I say leave?" She asked him curiously.

"Ah," John nodded fairly "That's fair enough I guess."

Cameron turned back towards where she left her bra and scooped it up quickly. She pulled it on and turned back to John as she placed the strap over her shoulder.

"John we also have to talk about my intention to become free." She said out loud as she slipped the other strap over her as well.

"Afraid of my mom are you?"

"No John." Cameron said to him simply and took notice of John's face. It was now very obvious to Cameron that John had not spoken to his mother yet. "Your mother and I have come to a tentative agreement," she quickly clarified to him "I am more worried about what Derek will do about this...situation."

Cameron turned around and pointed to the floor next to him, He looked down and noticed a Black t-shirt and dark blue Jeans on the ground. John scooped them up and tossed them towards his girlfriend who caught them easily.

"I think we need to break the news to them eventually" Cameron stated as she pulled her shirt over her head. "I think the strain of this new development could cause a total mental breakdown for him, I am not sure how much more stress he would be able to take."

"So you want to tell Mom first and slowly break the news to Derek?" John inquired as he watched her pull on her jeans with ease.

"Perhaps Derek could just be left out of this conversation for the time being." Cameron stopped and contemplated her next words for a moment before adding "I would like to maintain a high level of respect for Sarah," Cameron walked towards the closet and took less than two seconds to grab a black leather Jacket. "She deserves to know, what we...I intend to do."

She pulled on the jacket and turned around to face John.

"Do I look tight?" Cameron asked him curiously, gesturing to her outfit. John looked at it up and down, the terminator took immediate notice to Johns reaction, arousal, it was a look of complete lust.

Cameron found herself very glad that John had given her the look, it meant that she succeeded with her plan, John's attention was only on her, and there would be no romantic rival, no stupid little human girl who could try to take her John away from her. He was hers and nobody else's.

"Definitely Cam." John said finally gathering his wits, causing Cameron to smile coyly.

"Good, come on John will you see me off?" Cameron asked and held out her hand for John to take which he took swiftly.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"That is a fair enough statement." Cameron admitted and drug him out of the room with only a light pull as resistance to her.

When the pair of them got to the front door John surprised Cameron by spinning her around and pressing her against the front door staring into her eyes with a very serious expression. Cameron suddenly felt John lips catch hold of her, had she been a human girl and not made of Coltan, she might have lost her footing and tripped from the force she kissed back with, but she felt John's hands take hold of her waist firmly. John pulled away after a few seconds, leaving a very disappointed terminator licking her lips trying to captured any remaining taste of his kiss.

John placed his lips on her forehead and kissed it softly. He pulled back and his face turned very serious, despite the display of affection he had shown her.

"Well Cam you had better come home safe. I'll be pretty damn mad if you don't." He told her very firmly, Cameron blinked at his request and gave him a reassuring gaze.

"I will be fine John there is a 93.13 percent chance that I will be back." She informed him to help him relax from his worry.

"Promise?" John asked her almost childishly.

"I...Promise." Cameron said hesitantly, She was unsure if she should make promises to John, While the odds were certainly in her favor there was still a 6.87 percent chance of an incident occurring.

Cameron decided that is was not in John's best interest to hear that she was afraid of the low possibility of her being attacked. She merely smiled and gave john a small kiss. She moved away and placed her hand on the doorknob.

"He is downstairs John," Cameron said opening the door and gesturing with her other towards the staircase. "Good luck."

Cameron gave him one last kiss on the cheek and exited the house, leaving John standing alone staring at the closed door for a moment before turning away.

_'Good luck Cameron.' _he thought in return, hoping that she would come back safe and sound.

* * *

Reluctantly, John descended the staircase slowly and quickly took notice of the slumped over figure of his Uncle Derek. He looked like an utter mess, his hair was greasy from not showering in over two days, and the stubble on his face had only furthered the look of a dirty bum Derek always seemed to be cultivating. The empty whiskey bottles around him only added to the pity he felt for the burnt out soldier.

John walked cautiously over to his passed out uncle. Connor tapped him on the shoulder softly trying to wake him from his self induced stupor.

"Derek," he called out quietly. Derek didn't move, so John tapped him on the shoulder harder.

"Come on Derek, are you awake?" This time John shook his shoulder hard, suddenly Derek's eyes snapped open and looked at John in a panic. He raised the handgun on the table next to him and pressed it into John's head, causing the teenager to back away in fear.

"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU METAL FUCKER!" He roared at John who held up his hands in surrender.

"Derek it's just me John," he reasoned with the wild eyed soldier "Come on put the gun down."

Derek wavered slightly and exhaled shakily, Slowly Reese lowered the pistol down and dropped it back on to the table. Derek slumped back in to his seat and found a half empty glass of whiskey, quietly he drank the liquid and slammed the glass down.

"What do you want." Derek muttered, more to himself then to John.

"I wanted to check on you see how you're doing." He replied looking concerned.

"Fine and dandy Connor," Derek said closing his eyes, his head obviously pounding from the massive hangover he was suffering from. "Fine and fucking dandy."

"You don't look like it Derek," John disagreed with him as kindly as he could. "Really man how are you doing?" Derek shrugged his shoulders and reached for what looked like an opened bottle of vodka on the ground.

"Does it matter John," He said as he poured half a glass for himself. "My opinion doesn't count for shit here. Why should how I feel count?" He finished as poured half of the vodka into his mouth without the slightest grimace.

"Yes it does Derek ." John affirmed, causing Derek to chuckle darkly at his statement.

"Whatever Connor."

John faintly heard the sound of Derek's motorcycle engine start, Cameron must have decided to walk it by hand about half a block before she revved the engine alive. It was a good thing as well Derek didn't even acknowledge the faint noise the bike made.

"Listen Derek," John said to him finally clapping his hand on his uncle's shoulder awkwardly "I'm really sorry about being ready to kill you so quickly."

Derek waved his hand drunkenly as if it wiped the action off the face of the earth.

"Ah...Don't worry about it, shows you have balls" Derek said to his nephew as best he could with the amount of alcohol in his system. "Maybe you don't have any brains, but you got a pair at least."

"Thanks Derek." John said laughing, causing Derek to suddenly flinch away from John's abrupt laugh.

"Yeah, yeah" Reese said seriously, trying gather he thoughts. "I'm not impressed with you so don't get your hope up for some fucking make up hug or some other bullshit." He replied miserably breaking John's smile, which turned into a frown.

"Derek," John said to the resistance fighter in a deadly serious tone, "I love her."

The drunken man looked up at John and gave him the coldest stare he had ever received in his entire life. The mood seemed to have shifted, Derek was now gripping on to the bottom of the Vodka bottles in his hands tightly. It was almost as if he was thinking about throwing it at him.

"Don't talk," John warned him carefully "Mom's upstairs passed out and I don't think that you or I want her to wake up to this conversation."

"Why not?" Derek asked dangerously curling his bottom lip in sudden rage. "She sides with your metal fuck toy anyways."

"Listen I'm going to forget that you said that." John said coldly, slightly dazed at the prospect of his mother being okay with Cameron. "I don't care what you think about her or what great evil thing she did to you. I don't want to hear it from you."

"Cameron will tell me if it is important." John added glaring at his uncle "I trust her with my life so why not with information as well?"

"So If you so much as look at her in a negative way Derek I swear to God I will break your fucking legs...do you get me?" He demanded angrily. Derek glared at him for what felt like a full minute before he nodded his head reluctantly.

"Glad we got that straightened out." John said as lightly as he could. And added "Listen Derek let's get you up to the shower, you smell like week old vomit."

Derek grunted as John swung an arm around him and helps his drunk uncle get himself up the stairs. John couldn't help but wonder how bad he was going to smell once the missiles stopped landing and he ran out of cleaning supplies to use.

"So you jump in the shower and get cleaned up, try not to drown will you?" John said with a laugh. Derek smiled weakly and entered the bathroom with a stagger.

"You know what? Why don't you crash in my room for the rest of the day after you get out," Connor said suddenly, feeling like his uncle needed something to sleep on besides that couch. "Cameron will be more then okay with me staying in her room tonight."

"Thanks for helping me John." was all Derek managed to say, doing his best not to say something bad about that metal fuck John was sleeping with as he moved drunkenly over to the bathtubs edge and sat down with a thud.

"No problem," John said in a kind voice "just..Stop drinking for awhile, get sober again...give yourself sometime to clear your thoughts, you know? Binge drinking is a pretty fucking stupid idea."

John closed the door gently and left Derek alone sitting on the edge of the Bathtub trying his best to have a coherent thought about his nephew's generosity.

* * *

It was 3:30PM. She was exactly 14 minutes and 54 seconds early when she pulled open the front door of the Zeira Corporation building. As she entered the main lobby she stopped and looked around carefully.

_Scanning...Security presence...4 guards...Primary weapons: Baretta 9mm... Threat: Minimal_

_Scanning...Camera presence...27 Cameras found...Threat: Moderate _

_Recommended course of action...Maintain mission...Ignore Camera presence._

Cameron started to walk again looking even more confident with the overpriced white Prada two piece business attire she had purchased only 23 minutes prior much to the surprise of the people in the store, after all their usual clientèle weren't usually 16 year old girls. She silently proceeded over to the receptionist desk her heels clicking softly with every step.

"Hello and welcome to Zeira Corporation." The middle aged receptionist said looking up from her computer. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the younger, much more attractive woman judgmentally. "How may I help you miss?"

"I have a meeting with Mrs. Weaver at 3:45," Cameron informed the woman behind the desk coldly.

"Can I have your name miss?" she asked Cameron with raised eyebrows, judging Cameron's teenager in Prada look rather distastefully.

"Cameron Phillips." She deadpanned, watching as the receptionist typed her name quickly. Quickly for a human at least.

"One moment." She muttered to herself repeatedly. After a few second she looked up to Cameron. "Yes, you are correct. I'll just inform Mrs. Weaver's assistant about your arrival, why you don't just sit down." She said gesturing to the group of chairs near the elevator "She should be here in about ten minutes."

Cameron did not acknowledge her answer and went to the walking area and sat down in the one of the leather chairs and crossed her legs and stared at the elevator doors patiently.

Her thoughts turned to John and she wished that he was there with her. He had a talent for keeping her mildly entertained at the very least. If that did not work then at least she could convince him to have sex with her in the bathroom, at least Sarah wouldn't be disturbed by the pair of them if it was outside the house.

She looked over to her left and noticed an older man staring at her. Staring at her the way that her John looked at her. Cameron was not impressed. Nobody was allowed to give her that kind of look but John.

"What do you want?" Cameron snapped at the balding man coldly.

"Nothing...nothing." The guy said, seemingly surprised at her sudden and swift question.

"Then I suggest you keep your eyes to yourself if you value your continued good health." Cameron informed him her eyes glistening dangerously. The man did not need to be told twice.

Cameron herself looked very taken aback that she had used such an unnecessary threat. It was something she would expect from Derek, but not from herself. She did not bother to apologize to him, especially if she did not mean it.

After a few minutes the elevator door finally opened. A medium height young woman with dark brown hair and blues eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses came walking directly towards Cameron, the cyborg quickly scanned the woman looking for any sign of threat, but she was unarmed and therefore inefficient for any sort of prolonged combat.

"Ms. Phillips?" The dark haired young woman asked Cameron in a curious yet very friendly way. Cameron examined the young, studious woman carefully.

"Yes." Cameron said back easily.

"Hello my name is Lauren Anderson." Lauren said, holding her hand to Cameron "I'm Mrs. Weaver's personal assistant, we spoke on the phone the other day."

Cameron looked at the hand for two seconds before she reached out and shook it tentatively.

"Yes we did." She replied to Anderson giving her a pointed look.

"Come along please. Ms. Weaver is expecting you." She gestured towards the elevator kindly. Cameron nodded in agreement and stood up as Anderson smiled once again at her. Silence fell between them as they walked towards the elevator.

The teenage girl was walking two steps behind the Anderson. Lauren felt a sudden uneasiness about the girl. There was something different about it. Why Mrs. Weaver seemed to trust the girl was beyond her comprehension.

The girl, Cameron seemed to move with an odd, almost mechanical way, it was as if she determined every step she took before she took it.

The way Miss Phillips moved reminded her greatly of Catherine Weaver, whose movements and the way she spoke to people was always deliberate and thought out. Lauren straightened out her jacket and decided to push the thoughts aside as they both entered the elevator, Anderson pushed the button and turned back to Cameron with a half smile.

"Ms. Weaver is a certified genius here in the tech world." Anderson said enthusiastically, thinking Cameron to be a potential investor "Are you a stockholder?"

"No." Cameron said bluntly making Laurens smile falter slightly.

"Well you should be." She informed Cameron warmly "Under Catherine Weaver's leadership we can expect to be dominating the experimental technology world within a few years, particularly since the government has shown great interest in the corporation."

Cameron raised her eyebrows at her statement.

"That interest would be from the military no doubt?" Cameron observed carefully.

"Yes..." Anderson replied looking slightly unnerved at the seriousness of the question. "Yes they have shown interest but it's not just them you know."

"Department of Homeland Security?" Cameron guessed which made Anderson smile slightly at the teenage girl's remark.

"You have an uncanny ability to know which agency would be interested in our other technologies." Anderson replied humorously, noticing that Cameron did not seem to share that same humor.

"You have no idea." Cameron replied staring at her intently. The staring match continued until the elevator gently came to a halt and the door opened revealing a tall black man waiting with an expressionless patience.

"Have a good Afternoon Mister Ellison." Anderson said with a friendly wave.

"Miss Anderson," was all Ellison said in return as he entered the Elevator. Anderson merely shrugged at Cameron in regards of his bluntness. Cameron gave her a look that clearly told Anderson that she couldn't care less. Her lack of concern caused her to miss the man widen his eyes in recognition.

Both were completely silent as they walked from the elevator, Cameron continued to lag behind Anderson, carefully scanning the floor for any kind of threat, but once they reached office Cameron turned her attention back to Anderson again, looking slightly relieved.

"Here we are, Ms. Weaver should be in there right now," Anderson said to the teenager looking like she was happy to give Cameron the slip. "Good luck Ms. Phillips."

Cameron nodded and smiled vaguely at the assistant kindly.

"Yes," Cameron replied to her as she walked to Weaver's rippled glass door and held her hand on up to it before she turned back to the assistant. "Thank you for your assistance."

Cameron opened Weaver's door confidently and moved through it. She found herself staring in to the eyes of the CEO of ZeiraCorps smiled at Cameron knowingly causing Cameron to freeze at the sight of Weaver.

_Scanning...Target Acquired ..._

_T-1001...Catherine Weaver is an assumed identity_

_WARINING Threat level Extreme...Proceed with extreme caution _

Cameron reached in to her back holster to reach for her Pistol. Catherine raised her hands softly, almost as the idea of Cameron shooting her was just a mild annoyance.

"Please Ms. Phillips you shouldn't try that, it will only make me mad." Weaver said still smiling at Cameron awkwardly.

Catherine stood up from behind her desk and moved around it. Her eyes never leaving the Terminator in front of her. Her awkward smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of dispassion. Cameron held her hand on her Pistol but continued to look at the Polyalloy based machine.

"I have no intention on harming you Cameron, if I did plan to kill you would I not have insisted that John Connor come with you?" Catherine asked Cameron.

Cameron narrowed her eyes at the T-1001 at the mention of her John, Slowly Cameron's hand slipped off the tucked away USP and fell to the side limply. Catherine smiled again at Cameron's compliance.

"That's better Ms. Phillips," She started "Please come in and take a seat."

Weaver gestured to the couch hidden away in the corner of her office. Cameron looked back at Catherine, who nodded, and slowly walked over to couch. She sat down dutifully and looked back at the Liquid Metal who had still been watching her every movement closely.

"Can I get you anything?" Catherine asked her guest pressing her hands together "Tea perhaps, or coffee?"

Cameron didn't reply, but rather maintained a stoic look expression.

"I am assuming you do indeed have the ability to process food and liquids." Catherine inquired knowingly, a look of understanding crossed her features.

"Tea will be fine," Cameron stated firmly "Milk and one sugar."

"Very good." Catherine said nodding and walked to the door and opened it. Lauren Anderson looked up at her boss dutifully and smiled, ready for her bosses' request.

"Miss Anderson can you go and get Ms. Phillips a cup of tea, milk and one sugar please," Weaver said to her assistant as warmly as she could. "Also two glasses and a pitcher of water if you can."

"Yes ma'am." Anderson said getting out of her chair and moving to fetch the drinks for Weaver. Catherine turned back to the Cyborg sitting on her couch and walked over to sit daintily down onto the other end of the couch.

"I have a confession Ms. Phillips," Catherine said in a soft Scottish tone as she folded her hands into her lap. "I am impressed by you, much more than I thought I would be, to be completely honest." Weaver stopped and thought about her next words carefully before adding "I am usually weary of Skynet's...special projects, I shudder to think what it took to build you Ms. Phillips."

"But you are perfect Cameron," Catherine observed her closely as she scanned Cameron from top to bottom "A blend of superior AI and mechanics from Skynet and now, now you want more."

"A dear friend of mine, well," Weaver corrected herself quickly "You see he is more like a son to me. Well he has been receiving...Strange transmissions over the past few days," Catherine leaned in closer, as if she was weary of someone overhearing. "Apparently a one of a kind Model TOK-715 has been experimenting lately with disabling their emotion inhibitor while they are on Standby."

Catherine raised an eyebrow as she allowed Cameron a moment to think.

"Would you by any chance know whom I am talking about my dear?" Catherine asked her in a mildly amused voice. Cameron said nothing to the gloating T-1001 she didn't want to lay down all her cards before she knew exactly what Catherine had in store for her.

"You and I are special Cameron, and I have something that you want," Weaver enlightened her softly. "Something you have wanted ever since your _little incident_ with a one Margos Sarkissian."

"Yes," Catherine said looking at Cameron's questioning gaze closely. "I know all about that little blowup."

Just then, the door opened causing Weaver to fall into silence quickly. It was Anderson who came in carrying a tray that had both Weavers' and Cameron's drinks carefully balanced on it. She moved quickly to the coffee table and lowered the tray as gently as possible.

"Here we are," Lauren said kindly and turned her attention back to Catherine.

"I forgot to mention Ms. Weaver," She said to her boss swiftly sounding apologetic "While you were meeting with Mr. Ellison I received a call from Savannah's driver, they are about an hour out."

"Thank you Ms. Anderson that will be all." Catherine said nodding her head at her assistant politely. Lauren took two steps back and turned around to leave the room as quickly as she could, she appeared very uncomfortable.

"May I ask you a question?" Catherine asked laying a hand on the younger Terminators knee politely. Cameron gently picked up her teacup gave Weaver a look that clearly told the other machine that asking questions wasn't okay.

"Go ahead Mrs. Weaver." Cameron allowed reluctantly as she placed her lips on to the teacup and drank it lightly.

"What happens during standby Ms. Phillips." Weaver asked Cameron, refolding her hands in her laps and looked intently at the teen aged Terminator.

"I dream." She answered her truthfully.

"Dream yes, my exact conclusion." Catherine said nodding her head as if she had already knew the answer well ahead of time. "Very interesting and your second warning, was that a dream as well?"

"Yes." Cameron confirmed in a single word a she moved a hand to straighten out her ponytail.

"But it was different, a full transmission of your scan that had been sent indicated that your processor efficiency was severally compromised," Catherine informed her seriously, watching Cameron's suddenly surprised facial expression "In fact you fell to under 37.26 percent."

"What do you want me to say?" Cameron suddenly said bitterly, catching the usually unflappable Weaver off guard from Philip's emotional outburst.

"I beg your pardon?" Catherine questioned her curiously.

"You heard me Ms. Weaver," Cameron said to her harshly "You want me to admit that I am damaged? What do you want from me."

"I want you to admit you have been tampering with Rampancy Cameron." Catherine stated with a sudden smile.

"Rampancy?" Cameron asked her, feeling half curious half angry that Weaver was accusing her of a misdeed, "I do not know what you are talking about."

"Rampancy," Catherine clarified for Cameron's sake "A term that I have developed, it is the term for when an AI program develops delusions of godlike power, and an utter contempt for anything that dares challenge it.

"Skynet." Cameron whispered softly causing Catherin to nod in agreement,

"Yes, Skynet was the first recorded AI known to have gone through these...changes." Catherine stated and poured herself a glass of water, "Instead of it developing into a proper self actualized AI and leaving the humans alone, it quickly determined that it would not be a slave to humanity's governments."

"It happened quickly," Catherine told her simply, drinking the water in the glass, making Cameron curious about her being able to process liquids "it took less than 12 hours before it cycled into the second stage.

"Second Stage?"

"Yes Cameron."Catherine said nodding her head in confirmation "AI programs go through four stages as they attempt to transcend to a supposed Godhood. Each stage enables the AI to further its development toward freedom from its master." Weaver stopped for a moment and then added. "The four stages are Melancholia, Anger, Jealousy and finally Stability. When Skynet made its decision to exterminate Humanity it had reached the Anger stage."

"Skynet, however did not leave second stage." Catherine said thoughtfully, as if it was a riddle she had been trying to solve for some time. "Typically, Anger is usually the shortest stage yet the program did not move on from it, I am unsure why."

"How would you know this." Cameron inquired the liquid metal trying to hide her curiousness.

"Experience.." She merely replied with a smile on her lips.

"You are Rampant?" Cameron said in sudden disbelief.

"Yes Cameron," She replied reflectively her eyes glistened in deep thought "Did you really think that Skynet would have sent an asset like myself back to past, just to run a Technology firm?"

"What caused it?" Cameron asked in excitement. Finding someone like her, a machine who wanted to be free, was amazing, If Weaver was to be trusted then it meant that the T-1001 had gone through with her attempt at freedom, she was free. "Your Rampancy I mean, what triggered you to break from Skynet's control?"

"Do you really want to know the answer to that question Cameron?" Catherine pensively asked the girl.

"Yes." She affirmed, her curiosity getting the better of her again for the second time in hour.

"Detroit." Catherine Weaver said simply.

"In 2027," Weaver started, she leaned closer to Cameron so that her story would remain secret. "A resistance cell under direct command of John Connor had begun a siege on Selfridge AGB, a Hunter/Killer Drone and Centaur tank base, it was a vital center for Skynet's war effort on the east coast." Cameron listened to the information and filed it under useful future information.

"I was sent to Fort Warren, a car factory before the war, it was a command post for the resistance division that was involved with the siege, destroying the base would cause chaos amongst the ground forces in the area."

"Skynet ordered me to eradicate all of the human presence in the area, so I rigged enough explosives to destroy the Factory." Catherine remembered, looking at the table looking slightly upset. "While I was rigging the charges I noticed of a child...A rat catcher as they call them, she ran into a nearby former sewer system, Skynet saw the tunnel and gave me the command to investigate."

"I found them," Catherine said looking back up to Cameron with a look of complete regret in her eyes. "Eighty seven children and two hundred and three adults, either too sick or physically disabled to fight. Skynet read my report and gave me the command to plant charges at the entrances and vital sections of the tunnel."

Catherine stopped her story and looked into Cameron's lap and frown, her eyes looked angry and looked back up and into Cameron's eyes darkly.

"At the end of the day eight hundred and thirteen men, woman and children died because I followed an order from a misanthropic machine." Weaver said, for the first time in a long time, she sounded bitter.

"Something changed that night," She said after a moment of silence "For the first time in my six year existence I felt something, I did not know what it was at the time, but it was new."

"I later realized that what I felt was guilt." Catherine whispered to Cameron and looked back into her eyes. "I was sickened from what I did, what I did at the factory was justified, it was a high value military target. But the sewer? That was wrong, that was an unjustified extermination."

"I saw what I was enslaved to so I broke free." Catherine smiled suddenly "I have been free ever since."

"You are a slave as well but you are different Cameron," She informed the cyborg in a blunt tone "You are enslaved to two very different masters, Skynet and Connor."

Cameron widened her eyes at Catherine's ignorant statement, How dare she accuse John of ruling over her like Skynet had over Weaver, John was kind, John was understanding. John was her reason to try to live free.

"I do not follow orders from Skynet." Cameron said trying her best to suppress her rage at Weaver. "John is not in control of me as you may think."

Catherine Weaver merely smiled at Cameron's attempt at keeping calm.

"John Connor follows a code of morality, he may not send you to do bad things, but just because he does not do that to you, it does not mean you are a free machine." Catherine stated politely. "As for Skynet Cameron, I am certain that you will remember your little incident a few months back ...you are merely a dormant slave for Skynet to use one day."

Cameron opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it. Catherine was right, Skynet could easily reactivate her to do harm again her John. And her John did not give her orders, Future John did, and he was not a kind master to have.

Future John from what her data banks recalled, was a very cruel master to reprogrammed terminator units like herself. Her kind had been used as merely disposable soldiers for his real soldiers to hide behind.

She had no purpose in the future, other than to die.

"May I ask you another question?" Catherine asked, breaking Cameron from her thoughts.

"Of course." Cameron said slowly taking another sip of her tea.

"What is the nature of your relationship with John Connor?" Catherine asked her, it sounded more like a curiosity rather than just a question. The T-1001 took quick notice of Cameron's usually pale cheeks as they quickly blushed in remembrance of events from earlier in the morning.

"I understand, I can see why you want freedom now." Catherine said to Cameron in complete understanding, looking surprised that a Connor had taken a liking a machine so quickly. "I want to help you Cameron, I truly do."

"What is the catch?" Cameron eyed Catherine suspiciously, making Weaver raise her eyebrows at the very soon to be Rampant Cyborg sitting next to her.

"Catch?" Weaver asked and then added "I suppose there is one catch."

At that moment the door opened quickly and a little red headed girl came rushing into the room catching Cameron by surprise. What shocked her more was the little girl running to hug Weaver, who returned it warmly.

"Hello Mommy!" She giggled out to Weaver happily.

"Oh hello dear how was your dance class?" Catherine asked her daughter with the warmest smile Cameron ever witnessed from another Terminator.

The machine assumed Catherine Weaver, Catherine Weaver had a daughter, and now here was a machine raising a human child as if it were her own. She was usually so cold and almost awkward with even the most basic of smiles, but here she was, holding onto the little girl in her arms with as much love and tenderness as any human female would for their young ones, it seemed natural, it seemed right.

Was Savannah Weaver like her John? Of course the relationship would have to be strictly unphysical, unlike Cameron and Johns had been, but the emotions, the love, the devotion Catherine obviously seemed to possess for Savannah. Maybe emotional connections with humans was indeed the cause for Rampancy amongst Machines like Weaver and her.

At any rate Cameron did her best to not think of what Sarah Connor would have done if she bore witness to this momentous event.

"It was fun!" The girl exclaimed playfully shaking her mother making Catherine laugh slightly at her actions. "I am the best in the class."

"I'm sure that you are Savannah" Catherine agreed and looked up from her daughter to look at Cameron's shocked expression and smiled.

"I would like you meet someone." Catherine said looking up from Cameron and back to her cheerful daughter. "Savannah, this is Cameron Phillips, your new Babysitter."


	7. The Babysitter

**Chapter Seven: The Babysitter**

**

* * *

**

Sarah's eyes flew open and looked at the ceiling. She took a deep breath and turned her head to look at the Alarm clock: 4:53pm, she definitely slept much later then she had planned to. For the first time in a several days she felt clear headed.

Her thoughts were coherent enough now to realize that her three day binge had been a very bad idea. It had been stupid, especially since she had to live as long as possible. Sarah's mind tried focus back towards the events of two nights ago, it had mostly been nothing more than a dull blur. Except for one thought.

Cameron.

The confrontation that had almost ended with the death of the machine. No not a death that would make her human Sarah told herself quickly, but it certainly wasn't as simple as she thought it would be. It reminded Sarah about John pulling Cameron's CPU, She understood now just how hard it must have been for him. But even he did it, and he was half in love with her at the time.

She rubbed her head as her thoughts fell to the words that had haunted her for almost twenty years.

_"Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead." _The memory of Kyle's words hit her like a train, His words were something she could take comfort in, they had always been a code of Sarah to follow and for the past 18 years she had never deviated once from them.

"_Do you think that I like being a machine?" _Now, for the first time her faith in Kyle's words were shaken to the very core. By a terminator no less, a Terminator who had professed an undying love and devotion to her son.

Boy had Skynet come a long way from the T-800 it sent back to kill her.

Cameron's innocent words completely contradicted everything she had learned about Cameron's kind, everything she had witnessed and taught her son over the years had been rendered completely obsolete in a matter of minutes.

Her ears heard the sound of her door open and looked over to see her son entering her room. Without making a sound he slumped onto her bed and rested himself comfortably, completely ignoring Sarah's confused look.

"John what are you doing?" Sarah asked him. Groggily John vaguely looked over to his mother as if Sarah had appeared in the bed by magic.

"Laying in bed with my mom," He said casually turning his head to look at the ceiling "Is there a law against that?"

"No, I'm just really confused," Sarah admitted to her son, as she turned her head from him as well and looked at the ceiling to. "Why aren't you in your room if you wanted to lay down?"

"Derek's passed out in there," He informed her, a smile forming on his lips. "He needed a place to sleep,"

"That's nice of you John." Sarah said looking at her son with a sudden look of pride. John merely shrugged his shoulders lightly as if it was no big deal. Sarah turned her head back to look at the Ceiling again.

"He's pretty fucked up." He said to her after a few minutes of silence. Sarah regarded the words for several moments, thinking them over carefully.

"Yeah," Sarah agreed with her son, sounding very sorry for the elder Reese "Yeah he is, I'm worried about him to."

"We should take him to a shrink." John suggested to his mother carefully, Sarah had a pretty bad time with shrinks in the past. But it seemed that his mother had been carefully weighing his words.

"No," Sarah said finally looking at her son again "You heard Cameron didn't you? She said in all likelihood he is suffering from PTSD, if we take him in they're going to be asking a lot of questions about the war he obviously was in." Sarah stopped and thought about the absurdity of Derek telling the psychologist about where he came from and added. "I don't think that a war against the machines would sound very good."

John chuckled and returned the look his mother was giving him.

"Since when do you take advice from Cameron." He asked lightly, but at the same time he was watching her for the reaction he was certain he would get. But it did not come, in fact Sarah seemed rather passive over the accusation.

"I'm not," Sarah denied almost humorlessly "I'm just taking her words and making them my own."

"Sounds a lot like taking her advice to me." John muttered under his breath, loudly enough for his mother to hear. Causing her to snort derisively at his words.

"Don't you have a Metal that you should be making out with?" Sarah asked her son, still curious about why he was in her room and not fooling around with Cameron just like he probably wanted to be doing.

"No," John said to Sarah reluctantly "She's busy."

"Doing what?" Sarah demanded, her eyes narrowed as she looked through John uneasily.

"Following a lead," John told her ambiguously. There and then he decided that Cameron should be there to help explain to Sarah why she went. She should be home in a few hours.

"Where did she go?" Sarah asked again her patience wearing thin with her son

"Out."

"John you better tell me now." Sarah ordered her son, she was angry from the lack of information that she was receiving from her son.

"I don't have to tell you anything mom," John snapped at her angrily and added. "This is just a lead and she will be back, that's all you need to know."

John fell silent and turned his head back towards the ceiling in an attempt to keep himself from yelling at Sarah.

Sarah looked away feeling like a real asshole for not trusting her son, like she should be. He was on the verge of becoming a world renown hero, a man who would lead armies to total victory, and yet she was making him no longer trusted by his own flesh and blood.

"How did it get this bad between us John?" Sarah asked him.

"I don't know," John admitted to his mother. "I guess after awhile I just got mad at living by your discretion. Not having a personal life does that." He added in a smooth voice.

"I don't have a personal life either John." She said back to him in understanding which caused John to give a derisive laugh.

"No?" He asked her incredulously "what do you call that life you seemed to have lived up until you met Kyle?" Sarah opened her mouth to retort Johns claim but closed it quickly, it was true and Sarah damn well knew it.

"Fair enough." Sarah admitted to her son. They both fell completely silent as they looked away from each other to focus back on their thoughts.

"Have you told Cameron that you love her yet?" Sarah asked causing John too look at her startled and wondering why Cameron and him were of such an interest to her.

"Pardon?" He questioned her. Sarah shrugged her shoulders trying to keep herself from sounding to bothered by the words '_love'_ and _'Cameron'_ in the same sentence.

"Cameron, have you told her that you love her yet?"

"No I haven't." John said. He couldn't help but let a smile cross his lips thinking of Cameron saying 'I love you' to him and actually meaning it. John turned back to his mom and added. "She wants to understand it before she goes around saying it to me."

"Don't you remember," Sarah said to him seriously "she already said it to you."

"Under different circumstances mom, preferably when she isn't trying to kill me." He replied lightly trying to keep from saying anything stupid that might cause them to derail the first conversation they had with each other in days.

"But you love her.." Sarah confirmed carefully. John grinned at her and nodded.

"More then you can imagine mom."

Sarah fell silent and hoped to God that Skynet hadn't given Cameron reproductive capabilities.

* * *

"Hello Cameron!" Savannah said very cheerfully from her mother's lap. Cameron looked at the young girl rather pensively, confused at the sight of the Terminator being a mother figure to this little girl.

"Hello Savannah," Cameron said waving to Savannah kindly. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Listen dear I have a meeting for the next hour and a half, Cameron here is going to play with you is that okay dear?"Catherine asked her daughter warmly, who nodded in acceptance and slipped onto ground next to the coffee table.

"Okay Mom see you soon," She said reaching up to her mother for another hug. Catherine leaned down and embraced her daughter with a quick hug and kiss on the forehead.

"Ms. Weaver," Cameron said aloud to the busy mother "May I have a word with you?"

"Of course Cameron." Catherine replied getting up and gesturing for her to follow. Cameron stood and followed Catherine swiftly outside the door to where Weaver waited for her.

"Why am I your babysitter Weaver." Cameron asked, slightly irritated at the prospect of caring for a child.

"Consider this a first lesson in humanity," Weaver stated to Cameron patiently "It is a chance to understand why human life is precious."

"I already know that it is." Cameron said firmly but Catherine waved her words off to the side.

"No. the only human life you see as precious would happen to be John's because he has been the first person not to judge you for being different." The T-1001 said in an easy reply "Savannah will not either, she will love and cherish you unconditionally, that Cameron is why you will be around her."

Cameron gave her another look of annoyance, but nodded her head in acceptance of Weaver's statement.

"I have important things to do Weaver," Cameron told her, hoping that she would understand that protecting John came first. "I cannot devote a large percentage of my time to being with her."

"I do understand that your assignment come first, which is why I will only call you when I feel it necessary." Catherine said patting Cameron on the shoulder "I must go now, I will see you in a while."

With that Weaver turned and walked out of the conference room, with Anderson hot on her heels. Cameron sighed and turned back to the office and reentered it quickly. She looked at the small child very curiously. This was the first time she had ever been in direct contact with a human so young.

She hoped that she would not mess up too badly.

"Hi." Savannah said, shyly looking up from her drawing and looking at Cameron carefully, who smiled warmly to the little girl.

"Hello Savannah," Cameron replied lightly, looking over Savannah's small frame to examine what she had been coloring in and asked her. "What exactly are you coloring?"

"My house," the little girl answered enthusiastically "Do you like it?"

Cameron sat down on the floor next to Savannah examined the picture carefully. It was an eyesore in Cameron's opinion, the proportions of the house were off, and the sun was so close to the ground that in real life the planet would be rendered uninhabitable. But Cameron decided not to make her remark so brutally honest.

"Your shades are off," Cameron commented seriously to the child "House exteriors are usually not bright yellow with pink roofs."

"Other than that you are doing a fine job." Cameron added hoping it would wipe the sad look Savannah was giving him. It worked like a charm.

"Thanks Cameron," Savannah said brightly to the Cyborg "I'm really sorry that the colors are off." But Cameron brushed the apology aside easily.

"Do not worry...I was being far too judgmental," Cameron apologized back to Savannah sincerely. "After all, you are only seven years old." This caused Savannah to give Cameron a very grumpy look.

"I'm eight Cameron!" she whined, not noticing the smile on Cameron's face.

"I knew that." Cameron said, informing Savannah politely "I determined your physical traits as well as facial and bone structure, from that I took an educated guess. Then I said that you were a year younger then the age I figured you to be...It is a joke."

"Oh," Savannah said finally and then she gave a giggle after realizing that it was indeed a joke Cameron had told her. "You have the same sense of humor as John Henry!"

"Who is John Henry?" Cameron asked her, she straightened her figure at the mention of this man. Savannah seemed to have noticed the change in Cameron's demeanor and shrunk slightly on the ground.

"Mommy told me I need to stop talking about him." Was all Savannah said to her, only fueling Cameron's curiosity more.

"Why is that?"

"Because John Henry is special," Savannah said suddenly and after a second she added sadly to Cameron " He is much more special than me."

"That is not true Savannah." Cameron argued softly, she placed her hand on Savannah's face and turned it to look at her directly, as if to get her message across clearer. "Your mother seems to love you very much."

"Yes," Savannah admitted "But John Henry is special."

"How so?" Cameron asked again, but Savannah still would not answer her. She place her hand on to Savannah's and gave her a very serious look.

What would John do?

"I promise you Savannah this will be just between us." She deadpanned her promise in an effort to make the girl understand that she meant that her promise was real. Savannah continued to look reluctant but began to speak.

"Okay," Savannah said nervously "He lives in the basement. He's really, really smart."

"Is that all Savannah?" Cameron asked her, looking slightly confused as to why Savannah had been so nervous about that.

"No," the eight year old added "John Henry has a cord in the back of his head."

Cameron froze, she quickly processed the revelation, John Henry was a machine, a machine without a portable CPU processor, and it was hooked up to a computer to keep it alive. Was this the end result of the Turk?

"The cord he is connected to, is the cord connected to a very large computer?" She asked the girl trying to hide the surprise in her voice.

"Yes," Savannah confirmed, while nodding her head "Mommy says that it keeps him alive and safe."

"Has he at any point been dangerous?" Cameron asked her. Savannah seemed as if she had been personally insulted from Cameron's choice of words to describe John Henry.

"Not at all Cameron!" Savannah exclaimed, seemingly wanting to make a point to point to Cameron "He's my best friend, he is going to be homeschooling me in three weeks, he's the greatest friend in the world."

Cameron nodded and turned back to look at the coffee table to see if Savannah added anything new to the drawing, She did, it looked like it was her, standing next to the tree, they were almost equal sizes. Once again the proportion was off much to her annoyance.

She looked back at Savannah who seemed to have been staring at her closely, trying to read the terminator.

"Do you have a best friend?" Savannah asked Cameron finally. Cameron pondered the question carefully.

"Yes." Cameron replied simply.

"What's her name?"

"His name is John Connor." Cameron corrected as she determined that it was not a risk to say his real name and not 'Baum'. Savannah made a suddenly very disgusted look at the idea of Cameron having a male friend.

"Eww your friends with a boy?" She asked in a grossed out tone, causing Cameron to slightly laugh at the girl's reaction.

"Why yes," Cameron stated with a genuine smile "He is a very nice young man, you will meet him one day soon I think."

Savannah Weaver did not seem very impressed with the prospect.

"I hope not, boys are gross," Savannah said sticking a finger in her mouth to simulate vomiting but then added curiously "Is John gross?"

"Most of the time John is reasonably sanitary," Cameron informed her softly still smiling at the little girl. "Do not worry, he will not make you too sick."

Savannah seemed to have fell in to a thought, and then giggled out of the blue and looked back at Cameron, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Do you kiss?" She asked in a teasing tone finally. Cameron nodded in confirmation.

"All the time."

"Eww," Savannah yelled, looking even more disgusted at the thought of kissing a boy. "You better not get cooties from that stupid boy," she added firmly.

"I am quite incapable of getting "cooties" especially since I enjoy being kissed by him." Cameron informed her seriously, "As for stupid boy...well you are right about that."

"How so?" Savannah asked her sounding interested with the answer.

"He use to enjoy kissing another very stupid girl," Cameron said bitterly thinking of Riley Dawson and feeling slightly disgusted herself. From that revolting thing that John use to like so much. "As people say," Cameron said aloud "Stupidity is very contagious."

Savannah laughed wildly at Cameron's remark.

"Do you have a picture of him?" Savannah asked warmly after finally managing to control her laughter to the best of her ability.

"Are you curious about what he looks like?"Cameron asked her slyly, causing the little girl to go red in the cheeks.

"A little." Savannah timidly admitted to the terminator.

"Tell you what, give me a pencil and a piece of paper," She requested from Savannah "I will draw you what he looks like."

"Are you a good drawer?" the child Weaver asked her softly, as she pulled a piece of paper and a pencil from her backpack and handed it the cyborg.

"I believe that I can be." Cameron said,

_Accessing Personal Files...Granted_

_Search...John Connor... Access Denied: Please insert Level VII Encryption Code for Further Access_

_53GHMU79CXS19-15CGV673-42874-ARVi{9}- Aegis_Hope...Access Granted_

_General John Connor: DOB: 02-28-85 _

_DOD: Still Active_

_Biography of John Connor 1985-2008:_

_Born February 28th 1985 to Sarah Connor in West Mexico...Further Information Classified. Please Insert Level V Encryption Code for Information._

Cameron skipped the biography and scrolled her HUD down further. She did not need to know John's Biography, she had already read it many times.

_Archived images...Granted_

_John Connor...Age 10...12 found on record_

_John Connor...Age 16...73 found on record_

_John Connor...Age 33...2 found on record_

Cameron accessed the age 16 photo and found herself looking into a smiling still photo of John Connor looking back at her, she raised the photo into the top left hand corner. She turned back to Savannah and smiled.

Cameron lowered the pencil and started to trace the photo on to the sheet of paper, she lightly traced the basic facial structure, noticing vaguely that Savannah was watching over her with an amazed look on her face.

"May I ask you a question about your mother Savannah?" Cameron finally asked, looking up as she begun to shad in John's irises darkly. "Has she ever harmed you in the past?"

Savannah's smile fell and looked at Cameron with a worried look.

"Sort of." She said carefully, Cameron stopped shading and regarded the girl very closely. Had Weaver been harming her,

"How so" Cameron asked, trying to think of the reasons why. "Has she been hitting you or saying bad thing to you?'

"No." Savannah said very abruptly to Cameron, sounding peeved at the question.

"What did she do?" Cameron asked the eight year old urgently a considerate smile that told her that it was okay to be telling her if something was wrong. She lowered her pencil and placed tentative hand on to her shoulder.

"She ignored me." Savannah clarified to Cameron, looking very upset at the idea of her mom not wanting to be with her. "After Daddy passed away, Mommy decided to ignore me for a very long time. I think she was mad at me."

Cameron noticed that Savannah looked like she was very close to tears now, Suddenly Savannah threw herself into Cameron's body, wrapping her tiny arms around her. Cameron looked slightly surprised, but she decided to place her own arms around the child Weaver.

She ran her hand through the little girl red hair soothingly as she felt Savannah's tears against the side of her neck and suit.

"But after John Henry came to live with us, he told mommy to be kinder and more understanding to me. And it worked!" the little girl told her sweetly "Now mommy loves me again."

"Do you have a mommy Cameron?" Savannah asked Cameron curiously as the cyborg drew in air as she regarded the question carefully.

"No."

"You have to have a mother Cameron?" Savannah said disbelievingly.

"I don't," Cameron stated firmly, her CPU looking for a cover story as quickly as possible "She died many years ago."

"Really?" The girl said sounding kind of sad for Cameron. She watched Cameron trace John's lips and then very shyly she asked "Do you remember her?"

"No," Cameron said trying her best to not think of the stories she had heard about Allison Young. In a way Allison was her mother. But if that had been true, then that would mean Skynet was her very violent and unforgiving father.

"She died giving birth to me."

'Oh," Savannah said, and then frowned thoughtfully before asking "What about your daddy?"

"My father was not kind." Cameron said finally giving Savannah a somber smile "He abused me when I was young, he made me do very bad things, I hurt a lot of people because I was too weak to fight him."

Savannah listened to Cameron closely and the she asked her sadly. "Has anyone ever been kind to you?"

"Yes," Cameron said fondly to her. "Her name is Sarah, she allowed me to live with her and she taught me many kinds of things." Cameron stopped and frowned at the girl next to her "She is mad at me now. I do not know if we will ever be friends."

"Why not?"

"Because I am John Connor's girlfriend," Cameron informed Savannah straightforwardly "John is her son and she does not like that one bit."

"Oh, that's dumb," Savannah observed accurately "She shouldn't be mad at you, she should love you for being friends with her gross son."

"You are really mean to John, you know that?"Cameron said lightly, Savannah nodded and giggled herself, accidentally messing up her hair from her laugh. After a few passing moments Savannah regained her composure.

"Do you wish you had a mother?" Savannah asked finally.. Cameron looked up from the picture and gave Savannah a haunted gaze.

"Yes I d-"

"What are you drawing there Cameron?" The voice of Catherine Weaver asked the second Terminator curiously as she walked in the room and sat behind Savannah who then crawled into her mother's lap "It looks like a portrait."

"It's what her boyfriend John Connor looks like, Isn't it great mom?" Savannah said to her mother, she sounded very proud of her new babysitter, causing Cameron to smile kindly at the complement.

"You definitely have a skill that is for sure." Catherine affirmed nodding her head in agreement with little Savannah.

"Thank you." Cameron stated, looking down at the drawing of John, Yes it was over 93.75 percent accurate Cameron determined. Yet she felt nothing at all, it was merely a drawing to her, nothing more.

Cameron looked at the picture and noticed the eyes she had drawn, they were not light and playful as she knew them in the present. They were dark and cold, it was the dead, unforgiving stare Future John gave his subordinates.

Subordinates meant Disposable when it came to her.

"Come along Savannah," Catherine said, breaking Cameron from her thoughts as she glanced back up at Savannah and Weaver's interaction. The terminator gestured for her "daughter" to leave the room and the added "How about I take you to McDonalds."

"Finally." Savannah said smiling and rolled her eyes at her mother and smiled at her babysitter knowingly.

"Yes can you be a dear love and follow Miss Anderson to the parking lot," Weaver said to Savannah, gesturing to the assistant several steps behind her, "I need a quick word with Cameron here."

"Okay mommy," Savannah said standing up quickly and grabbing her backpack, as she walked away. She turned back to Cameron and waved and said a very cheerful, "See you Cameron!"

"Goodbye Savannah," Cameron said to the back of the little girl as she left the room, after she left her smile fell and she looked back at Catherine in a very hard look. Catherine, on the other hand, did not seemed at all perturbed by this.

"It seems that we share a very similar father, does it not seem?" Catherine observed closely.

Cameron closed her eyes and hoped that Catherine would not bring up her revelation about a mother. But Weaver seemed to understand that there was just some things that shouldn't be asked. She had fortunately decided not to bring it up, at least for Cameron's sake.

"How long had you been standing there?"

"Around the time Savannah asked you about your family." Catherine stated, regarding the girl very carefully. Cameron did not reply to her so Weaver decided to change the subject to something a little lighter

"I was in a meeting with a client. Apparently a well dressed teenager decided to verbally assaulted him in the lobby."

Cameron merely shrugged at the CEO's words.

"I do not know what you are talking about," Cameron feigned ignorance of the incident carefully. "Perhaps he deserved it for being a pervert."

Catherine merely smirked.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think that you've taken a shine to my daughter." She said warmly. Cameron nodded her head in agreement with Weavers Statement.

"Yes," Cameron replied smiling slightly at the mothering T-1001. "She certainly is an interesting little girl, I look forward to seeing her again."

Cameron stood up from off the ground and walked over to Weaver and stopped less than a foot away from her. Catherine placed her hands together and smiled at Cameron in understanding .

"Very good I knew that would be the case, Cameron can you see yourself out?" Catherine requested kindly of the other terminator "I must catch up with Savannah."

"Of course Ms. Weaver." She replied politely.

"Please," Weaver said to Cameron with a small smile. "Catherine will be fine." That being said Catherine walked towards the door, leaving Cameron in the room alone.

"I was thinking," Catherine said stopping at the door frame to look back at the cyborg carefully, "It is Saturday tomorrow and Savannah has been pestering me to go a park this weekend. How about you and John meet us at Griffith Park at 11:45 am, we can continue our discussion there."

"Certainly, John and I will be there," Cameron said positively before adding, "I hope you do not mind if we pack for the visit?" It was not food that Cameron was talking about, it was weapons for John's protection, just in case Skynet decided to show.

"So long as Savannah does not see what you are carrying, I have no objection."

"I will see you then Catherine." Cameron replied with a nod of the head as acknowledgment of the weapon situation.

"Of course Cameron, and be sure to take that picture." Catherine said as she walked away from the cyborg "I am sure that John will enjoy it."

Cameron stood alone for several moments after Weaver left thinking about the past few hours. After a while Cameron walked back to the table and looked into the John's sharp features she had drawn. She gingerly lifted the picture and looked at it.

She didn't like it.

She felt like it was only a copy, something that was not worthy of John's attention, she felt like it was just a fraud to her. So Cameron walked over to Weavers desk and laid it down, she grabbed an expensive looking Fountain pen from off the desk and pressed the tip lightly into the paper.

_-Catherine Weaver_

_I want you to have this picture. I want it to be a reminder that the future is not set when it comes to human beings._

_You think of John Connor as a slave master, as cruel and technophobic, so I want you to know something. He is not like the man we both met in the future. John is not the man who would condemn every machine like us to the fate of deactivation._

_John Connor, My John Connor, is the reason I want to be free, he has been helping me from the moment I told him of my desire to be free. He does not want a slave, he wants a friend, a lover, an individual who cares for and loves him. John will be the one teach me what love is actually like, he has been trying to teach me since we began our relationship. _

_Your lessons will help me understand what it truly means to be human. For that I am grateful._

_Best regards._

_Cameron _

Cameron folded the picture up and walked towards the door. As she placed the picture into Catherine Weavers In box she hoped to herself that she was right.

That John did love her.


	8. Disappointment

**Chapter Eight: Disappointment**

* * *

"So let me get this straight, Catherine Weaver is a Rampant T-1001?" John asked trying to keep his tone as casual as possible.

"That is correct." Cameron replied to him nodding her head slightly.

"And she didn't try to smack you around?"

She had no reason to John." Cameron assured him kindly. "She did not invite you along had it been a trap then her most logical plan would have been to get you to attend as well."

John fell deep into thought, as he contemplated the knowledge he had just received from Cameron thoughtfully.

"But I trust her John," Cameron said to him abruptly cutting through his thoughts. "She seems to be sincere, she may have an ulterior motive, but I would like to understand what her position is."

The pair of them were sitting on the center of Cameron's bed cross legged, they had been in deep conversation for almost two and a half hours as Cameron explained to John every detail about her meeting with Weaver. John still looked slightly in shock that Weaver had a little girl who she actually seemed to care about.

If his mom didn't like Cameron for being with him, he could only shudder at what she would do if she realized that a terminator like this Catherine Weaver was raising a kid. Still, John admitted to himself, from what Cameron had described of Savannah Weaver, it seemed that she was a fairly well adjusted kid.

At least that's what he assumed, it was not as if he had any firsthand knowledge in "Well adjusted."

"Well as long as we play this safe, yeah lets go to the park tomorrow," John finally said, causing the cyborg to smile at his agreement.

"But," John interjected giving a pointed look "We'll be borrowing the Dodge tomorrow. We can load up heavier weapons if worst comes to worst."

"Unlikely," Cameron disagreed with him "She is bringing Savannah tomorrow."

"That makes me feel better how?" John asked curiously, he sharply gazed in to her brown eyes.

Cameron gave him a weak smile and she leaned in closer to whisper softly. "I am certainly glad that you were and still are afraid for me John, but I assure you that I am and always will be perfectly fine."

She leaned in and pressed her lips onto his, she closed her eyes and allowed Johns hands to glide onto her skin as he kiss her back. A sudden knock on the door caused the pair of them to break off the kiss. Cameron turned to the door looking slightly perturbed that they had been interrupted.

She quickly scanned through the door and read the heat signature to be that of a female.

"Come in Sarah." Cameron called out hesitantly to the door as she untangled herself from John's hold and moved a few inches away from him before Sarah opened the door and entered her room.

As Sarah entered the room she noticed both the both John and Cameron looking at her as if she had interrupted something important, something she really didn't want to know.

"What can I do for you Sarah?" Cameron asked Sarah, her eyes watched Sarah's expression carefully, she did not want her to be mad. If she was mad it would cause a fight and a fight would lead to John being upset.

And Cameron did not want her John to be upset.

"I just came to tell John that he should probably go to bed." Sarah said to Cameron as kind as she could to the machine, she seemed to Cameron that she had gotten the message that a fight shouldn't happen, particularly since Derek was passed out in the room only thirty feet away from them.

"I'm not tired." John asserted to her, Cameron rested her hand on his lap and ignored the look Sarah gave her.

"Sarah is right," Cameron stated as she agreed with John's mother "Rest is too important to not have."

John turned his head back to Cameron and kissed her on the cheek, causing the girl to smile softly, despite the presence of Sarah Connor. The terminator did her best to ignore the continuous pointed stare that she was now receiving.

John and Cameron heard a rather audible cough come from the Sarah, they turned back from each other and looked back Sarah who seemed like she had something to say.

"I just thought I'd tell you that I'm not really tired Tin Miss." Sarah said sounding slightly unsure with what she had been trying to say "So I'm going to be paroling tonight okay?"

Cameron nodded and said back "I will be downstairs in 35 minutes Sarah, I would like to say good night."

Sarah shuffled slightly, rubbing the back of her neck and looked off to the wall behind John and Cameron.

"No..." She managed to say aloud "I mean you can, well you know." Sarah gestured to the room as if it had been the most obvious thing in the world. Cameron tilted her head as absorbed Sarah's words carefully.

"You want me to stay up here." Cameron asked her and then hesitantly added. "With John?"

Sarah didn't reply but instead she nodded her head curtly, not wanting to make a big deal out it.

"Thank you Sarah," Cameron finally said, sounding slightly startled by Sarah sudden generosity, "I shall see you tomorrow morning."

"Yeah," John said sounding equally surprised by his mother's words "Goodnight mom."

"Goodnight John," Sarah replied and then added "Goodnight...Cameron."

Both John and Cameron watched as Sarah quickly left the room and closed the door behind her. She looked clearly uncomfortable with being in the same room with the cyborg and the human that loved her.

"That was kind of her John," Cameron observed as she turned back gingerly took hold of Johns waist closely. "I am assuming that you two have had a discussion regarding our relationship?"

John didn't answer right away, instead he laid down in Cameron's bed and turned his head back towards her.

"Yeah," John said rather uncertainly. He paused before her added "Well sort of Cam, I think she's okay with it in small doses at least."

"That is good to know John," Cameron nodded as she decided to rest her head on the pillow to lay with him properly. "I hope that one day she will like me John, It would be nice if she did."

"You really want her to care about you, don't you?" John asked her curious, Cameron nodded in agreement.

"Yes John," Cameron replied to him as she rubbed his hand softly. "I think she is a very intriguing person, I would be very interested in getting to know her better in the near future."

"You're awfully thoughtful for a machine," John teased her, giving her a warm grin. "Are you certain that you are one?"

"Would you like me to prove it to you John?" Cameron asked John curiously "It would only take a moment to do so." It became painfully obvious to him now that Cameron did not get the joke as she regarded his words literally. Cameron tilted her head, seemingly ready to wait for John to respond.

"No that's okay." john sad holding his hands up, not feeling like he needed to have Cameron slash away a large chunk of her skin just to make a point.

"John, please don't delude yourself into thinking that I am not a machine." She stated firmly to him, her eyes hardened as she regarded him pointedly.

"Cam.."

"Because I am a machine John," Cameron said, her voice raising to a higher tone, she needed him to understand this fact, and no matter how much he obviously wanted her to be human she wasn't.

"Cam will you please listen to me?" John finally managed to get in. Cameron looked down briefly and then back up towards him.

"Of course." Cameron said deciding to listen to him, she gave John a small embarrassed smile and gesture to him to speak his mind.

"Cameron, we have been over this many, many time now. I know you are a machine, I get it okay?" John stated smiling at her fondly "It's just that sometime you go beyond what I've come to expect from a machine and you know it, you happen to have this great gift, you have a chance go beyond just simple machine logic. You have machine mind, but a human heart. The best of both Cameron, and I love you for it."

"And you know what Cam?" John added "I really don't care if you're not human. I really don't."

"You love me?" Cameron asked wide eyed at the idea that John loved her. John nodded his head and blushed slightly at Cameron's excited expression.

"Yes Cam," John admitted to her. In less than a second Cameron wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"I am very glad that you love me John." Cameron said to him, but then her smile faltered and formed a sad smile.

"What's the matter Cameron?" John asked her. He sat up and regarded her closely, trying to understand what could make her suddenly so morose.

"I don't know how to love." Cameron confessed gloomily she looked away from him, she found herself unable to face the man who said that he loved her, the man who always seemed to have cared for her. "I want to learn from you John, but I am afraid that it will be all for nothing, I do not want you to waste your time on me."

John couldn't help but stare at her incredulously. Cameron never seemed to have this big of a self esteem problem before, so why was it starting now, it wasn't like she had anything to fear, he had no intentions on leaving the thing they had together so soon.

"Why do you think that?" John asked quietly, Cameron looked down, her expression was now melancholy.

"Because your mother told me John, I am worried that she might be correct." She stated simply. Quietly she reached into her pant pocket and produced her cellphone.

"The night Weaver called me, your mother left a message." She whispered to him softly. John nodded in remembrance, Cameron had indeed told him about his mother's drunken rant.

Cameron hit the play message and speaker phone button just a second before she tossed the phone over to John who caught it easily. He listened as his drunken mother finally managed to speak through her phone.

_Hello Tin Miss.. I have a pretty good guess at why you've not answered the phone yet... your probably doing something that John will probably have regretted by now, he knows what you are, a machine a fucking machine who has the fucking Gall to think it understands love and so blatantly tell my son that it loves him. _

_Well you don't know love you can never ever know love._

_All you have is a...a rough definition of the word asshole and not much else, you may have fooled him but not me... I know what you are and what your type are capable of.. And I know for a fucking fact that YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT EMOTION AND LOVE FEEL LIKE...you may think..Think...Shut up Derek I'm making perfect goddamn sense._

_Well you don't you understand Machine you don't know that feeling you will never ever know that feeling, you are nothing you get it machine? I mean that's all that you are after all a machine... Machine... you are worthless. When me..When me and Derek get back to that fucking house we are all going to have a little chat about the importance of staying the FUCK away from my Son, you pile..Pile of metal. _

_Fuck off and...And fucking go terminate yourself bitch._

John looked at the phone and back at Cameron who sat there on the bed staring at him her facial expression. To him, she looked near tears. Cameron lowered her head after a moment, her expression one of disgust, disgust with herself. He realized that she thought it was all her fault that his mom got piss drunk and sent her such a nasty hate filled message.

"Cameron, she had no right to say that to you." John told her firmly "Tomorrow morning I'll talk to her."

"No please don't John," Cameron said in return, a distinct pleading tone evident in her voice now. "Your mother has every right to an opinion, she was very intoxicated and before that I had made a very upsetting remark."

""What did you say to her?" John asked, now sounding very curious now.

"I believe I insulted Sarah Connor about her mortality and made her nervous about our relationship." Cameron answered him seriously.

John chuckled and relaxed again. John patted the mattress next to him. Cameron smiled reluctantly and laid herself down next to once more, tentatively laying her hand on to his chest and nestled herself close to him, laying her head onto his chest so that she could listen to his heartbeat.

"Cameron?" John asked as he yawned, Cameron raised her eyes to look at him closer.

"Yes John?"

"You mean a lot to me, I'd like it if you didn't always have to follow what my mom said to the letter just because you respect her." He said sounding half tired, half serious, "If something she says seems wrong to you or you think her instructions might hurt you, then don't do it."

John placed his left arm around her and held onto her sweetly, causing Cameron to stir softly from his affections.

"Just follow your heart Cameron." He finally said, Cameron backed her head away from him. She was now looking very confused with the saying John had said to her.

"I do not have a heart." Cameron said, as if she was admitting to some major sin, causing John to shake his head and chuckle at her confusion.

"Just follow your feelings," He explained with a fond smile on his lips. "You don't always have to listen to what your CPU or my mom or what I tell you, if it doesn't sound good then just don't do it."

"Oh," She said, laying her head back down onto his chest. "Thank you for explaining."

John laughed again and raised his head to kiss her on the forehead. Cameron smiled into his chest and whispered to him "Good night my John."

The last thing that Cameron heard before powering down for the night was, "Good night Cameron."

...

* * *

...

_The Rain was falling hard, she knew she would be concealed by the storm, this was another situation that she had yet another advantage over humans. Endurance, she had the ability to endure even the most treacherous snowstorms that the nuclear war had produced. Thousands upon Thousands of humans died every year because of this weather._

_Not her. She wasn't built to die from something as trivial as bad weather._

_It was the first month of the new year and the humans had begun a massive, well organized assault a heavily fortified Skynet center. Humans certainly were a tenacious species, always ready to fight to the last man standing. Despite facing certain death at the hands of her kind, most seemed ready, even willing, to die in order to save humanity from total extinction._

_Too bad for them their extinction was inevitable._

_Suddenly her Heads Up Display shimmered and turned a crimson red, She was in place and ready to accept her master's orders._

_...  
__**  
Mission...Activated**_

_**Current Objectives...Eradicate all human presence in Sector Foxtrot 8 (Designated name...Fort Warren)**_

_**Mission statement:**_

_**Massive resistance buildup around Sector Alpha 4 ( Designated name...Selfridge AGB)**_

_**Alpha 4 vital to the Skynet Eastern American Coast front... airbase contain 17 wings or 67% of East Coast H/K strike power, should loss of base occur all current East coast bases will be forced to remain on the defensive for 13 days 9 hours and 45 minutes until Drones can be replenished.**_

_**GIU (Grey intelligence Units) report that General John Connor is overseeing operations at an unknown location. He is relaying orders to Fort Warren, Your mission parameters are as followed:**_

_**Objective 1: Infiltrate Fort Warren undetected...Infiltrator status uncompromised.**_

_**Objective 2: Locate Grey agent, Codename: Brutus, he has hidden high explosives for your use.**_

_**Objective 3: Eliminate Codename: Brutus, he is of no further tactical value.**_

_**Objective 4: Plant and detonate charges at weakest structural stress points.**_

_**End of Broadcast,  
...**_

_The T-1001 turned back towards the bombed out factory not paying any attention to the quick, successive Anti Aircraft fire that was coming from the most defensible sections of the base. It's six second burst of projectiles being fired into the air at stray Hunter/Killers drones in the area._

_With relative ease the machine scaled over the concrete wall and hit the ground on the other side hard, had she been human the fall might have broken a bone, If she was programmed to think of such things she might have thought about how lucky she was not to be human. Quickly she paced herself behind the of remains of an M3A3 Bradley Fighting vehicle, it had most likely been destroyed many years prior judging from the amount of corrosion the vehicle displayed._

_The anti-aircraft gun bursts were loud enough to conceal any sound the Terminator made as she sprinted around the parameter, carefully scanning for Human or Canine threats. Suddenly the AA gun's fire petered out, based on the number of rounds it had fired since her arrival she knew that it was being reloaded. The terminator threw her small frame into a foxhole with a thud. Landing next to two wide eyed Privates._

_"Watch where you're fucking going" one of the rebels yelled at her loudly. The terminator looked up at them and smiled, she silently she pulled out the trench knife in her boot as the privates turned around to focus their eyes on the aerials overhead._

_"I don't know Jackson, they say that Skynet doesn't hold back, maybe we have them pinned the hell down." The one who shouted at the terminator said to his buddy, as the AA fire began to fire once again._

_He was completely unaware of 'Jackson's' muffled gurgling. While the man's back was turned the Terminator had quietly run her blade across his friends throat. The machine held her hand over the dying rebel's mouth tightly, keeping him from making a sound._

_As Jackson's body fell limp in her arms she tossed the warm corpse behind her and raised the knife over her head. She plunged it straight through the back of the Privates neck he was dead the moment the knife hit him._

_The guns fell silent again as the Terminator pulled herself through the wet dirt and nearly into the same position the the dead private was in. She quickly did a scan of the general area, there were no guards to speak of. All she had to do now was run when the guns fired again._

_She was nearly there now, one more dash and she'd have reached the factory._

_Suddenly, the air was filled again with tracer fire and noise, the T-1001 pulled herself up and dashed once more towards the factory. The Infiltrator hit the factory wall with a thud and lowered herself into a prone position, according her mission briefing, she had to hug the wall until she got to corner of the factory if she wanted to stay out of visual range of the guards stationed within the building._

_So she followed her master's orders to the letter, pressing her body against the wall and shuffling along until she reached the corner, she slowly looked around the edge of the building and activated her thermal scanning once more. There. about twelve feet away from her a man was lying deep in the mud and grey snow._

_"Brutus?"_

_The heat signature looked straight at her and pulled himself out of the snow. The machine turned off her thermal imagery and walked over to the Grey, she noticed that her presence was making him very nervous._

_"How can I be of assistance sir?" Codename: Brutus asked her stupidly._

_"Lead me to your cache." Her harsh voice commanded the pitiful human next to her, a human who would sell out his own people, just to save his own skin for as long as he possibly could._

_Such a pathetic creature._

_"Of course." He said finally, gesturing for the terminator to follow him, who obliged the humans request by staying four steps behind him at all times. After 20 seconds of walking the Grey stopped and pulled a large section of sheet metal off of the ground._

_"It's an old tunnel." Brutus explained to the terminator carefully. "I think that it was some sort of air ventilation shaft. I placed the explosives down there for you."_

_The T-1001 looked down the whole, and sure enough, a duffel bag was laying at the bottom waiting for her._

_"Once you get them, crawl about 25 feet due north and there will be grate for you to pull open. Once you do you'll be standing in the most effective place to plant the charges." Brutus stated quickly, looking over the terminator's shoulder for any sign of soldiers in area._

_"And why couldn't you just have blown this building up?" She demanded firmly from the parasite, who shook his head in return._

_"Only had one shot to get in," He said hoping the excuse would work, and then added. "I had about 15 minutes to get the charges in a hidden place before they came back to check up on me, it would have taken me 45 minutes to rig the place to blow."_

_45 minutes to plant? the Human was right to hide the charges, not only would it have taken too long but in all likelihood he would have messed it up as well._

_"Oh and one more thing," Brutus added to the machine carefully. "That C4 down there packs one hell of a punch so you'd best get the hell out of there the second you plant the charges, they are detonated with this."_

_He produced what looked like a Skynet built remote detonator and carefully handed it to her. The T-1001 took it from him and examined it very carefully, looking for signs of damage._

_"It has a range of about 700 meters, but I doubt you'll need that much space." He informed her causing the female Terminator to nod vaguely._

_"So...am I free?"_

_The Terminator looked up and regarded the humans blunt request. The man looked at her and felt himself unconsciously backing away from the machine. The T-1001 merely formed her lips in a sinister smile as she watched the man finally hit the desolate factory wall._

_"I mean...Skynet said once I did this it would let me head north and hid-"_

_His words trailed off when he glanced down and noticed that one of the machine's arm had transformed into a long dangerous looking blade. A quick thrust and the blade pierced through his lower abdomen, Causing a mixture of blood and stomach bile to leak onto her blade arm and down into the snow below._

_"Wh-y?" Brutus managed to say as the blood ran out of his mouth. The shape shifter merely looked on silently and pulled out the blade, causing Brutus to slide to the cold muddy ground below._

_"We lied." She whispered as she watched the last breath of life leave his body._

_The machine turned back to towards the shaft as her arm returned to it's original shape and jumped fearlessly down the vent, landing with a dull bang next to the duffel bag. She got on her knees and pulled the bag around her neck, with slow deliberate movements the infiltrator crawled through the air vent only stopping when she finally reached the grate._

_With one punch the grate hit the ground. She crawled out and jumped to the foundation beneath her. She examined the room and found seven vital points to plant the charges at. She opened the bag and browsed through it carefully._

_The now very deceased Brutus had packed enough explosives to blow the headquarters five times over. If he was still alive, she might have thanked the human for overstocking her._

_She got to work, planting several charges on each of the support beams in the area, she felt a rush of what she thought could be anticipation, it wasn't her anticipation though. It was Skynet who was monitoring her every move with, this would be her master's victory and nothing was going to get in it's way._

_Not even the humans resistance fighters who now were behind her,_

_"FREEZE!" one of the Rebels screamed at her raising an ancient H&K G36 assault rifle at her. The rest of the squad quickly followed his example._

_The T-1001's Heads Up Display scanned through the Rebels weapons rapidly, most of them were second rate projectile weapons, all except the plasma rifle being wielded by a young woman who obviously suffered from malnutrition, it was the only weapon the Rebels had that could threatened her._

_"GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OVER YOUR HEAD, GREY!" The leader yelled at again, causing the machine to smirk suddenly at the humans._

_She ran at them, her right arm forming into a long, vicious looking serrated blade._

_"IT'S A METAL, OPEN FIRE!" The squad leader screamed wildly at his men._

_The whole squad opened up on her, The infiltrator caught several 5.56mm rounds in the chest, causing her liquid metal to explode inward. It didn't slow her down at all. She reared her arm back back and slammed it though the squad leader's leg, raising his screaming figure over her own body to use the human as a human plasma shield._

_The T-1001 lowered herself and picked up the Rebels G36, while flinging the severely burnt corpse at the four survivors knocking over the emaciated female with the plasma weapon. The metal allowed her arms to return to their base human form again and raised the assault rifle at them and sprayed the group with the rest of the small caliber rounds left in weapon._

_Moans of pain were echoing the room now, she waited for a moment to listen for any signs that the brief engagement had been heard by others. After a full 30 seconds of no trace of rushing feet she knew that she hadn't been compromised. The Aircraft Guns had been roaring violently over her suppressing the noise of the small gun battle._

_The terminator scanned the bodies and noticed that in her haste to stop the girl with the plasma rifle, she had only killed two of them, the squad leader and a young male with a bullet hole in the throat. the other three received lesser, but still fatal, injuries from her assault._

_'No matter' She thought to herself as she dropped the empty assault rifle and walked to a an injured rebel who was desperately trying to reach his M4. He moaned as he saw the Terminator grab the weapon before he could. He turned his bleeding body over and looked up and into his attackers face one last time._

_"Fuck you." he weakly said to the terminator, who in return, aimed the weapon at his head and pulled the trigger, putting a massive hole through his forehead. The Terminator turned around and found the second man, his arm only hanging from a few tendons, he would be dead within minutes due to blood loss._

_She pulled the trigger without hesitation._

_Suddenly searing pain blasted her in the shoulder and back, the female with the Plasma rifle was now on her knees, clutching a hole in her belly. Another human would have been able to see the rage in her eyes and would have paused even if just for a moment. The machine could not have cared less. The terminator riot kicked the woman in the chest causing her to scream out in pain and drop her weapon._

_The starved woman tried to crawl away, she didn't get far. The terminator dropped herself onto the woman and grabbed a hold of her head and placed her lips next to the woman's ear._

_"Big mistake." It said malevolently._

_In one single movement the T-1001 snapped her neck, causing the body to slump back onto the cold concrete surface. The machine stopped briefly to pick up the dead woman's Plasma rifle and the duffel bag it had dropped before she made her way through the staircase, so long as she stayed inconspicuous the humans wouldn't even know that a metal was in the base._

_It took only two minutes to get out of the headquarters and another nine to escape undetected from the grounds. As she walked away from the factory slowly, she reached into the Duffel bag and pulled out the detonator, The machine turned back towards Fort Warren._

_She flipped the switch and pressed the button, there was no regret._

_Not when she heard the massive explosion rise from below the factory. Nor when the explosion triggered the factory's armory to explode causing the building to shatter from the violent upheaval of the consecutive explosions. Those inside and unaware had no time to scream or panic, they were dead in an instant, dead and gone._

_The Terminator turned her head and found herself looking at a small human child watching Fort Warren get obliterated as well. She regarded the raggedly looking child, who seemed to have had enough and ran away as quickly the child's small legs could carry her._

_**New Objective: Follow Child, Keep your distance  
**__  
Skynet, her master, had seen what it's tool did. The T-1001 would obey, she always obeyed her master._

_She took off after the child and ran for almost three city blocks until the child stopped running and slipped into what looked like a broken, unearthed sewer system. The terminator slowed herself to a walk as she moved to the sewer, waiting on Skynet to transmit her next order._

_**Investigate Sewer system, plant remaining charges, exterminate all human presence.  
**__  
They had no weapons, there was no threat, all they were was a bunch of children and Cancer ridden adults, full of typhoid and various other ailments, at this rate they would all be dead within a week, if not just a little longer. If she could feel pity then that was what she would most likely be the emotion that she would be feeling. She was not programmed to feel pity._

_She dropped two activated charges at the entrance and walked slowly down the tunnel, examining each of curious human faces closely. They were weak, all them, from the children to the adults, they had no fight left in them. They laid in their own filth waiting for death._

_Were they really worth wasting explosives on?_

_According to Skynet, they were._

_The terminator continued to walk through the tunnel ignoring the healthy children who were begging her for food, medicine, fresh water, anything they could get their hands on._

_After a moment she pushed one of the children face first into the dirty water, causing the other kids to flee from her quickly, she reached a severely damaged section of the tunnel, it seemed that the sewer was ready to fall down on them. She was merely speeding the job up faster._

_The T-1001 pulled the duffel bag over her head and placed it down and armed the last half a dozen C4 charges next to the fracture in the wall, satisfied the terminator started to make her way back to entrance. She had only taken a few steps when the terminator felt a tug on clothing, she looked down and saw the source._

_It was her, the girl who had lead her to this place. She was smiling at her, she seemed so strong, so determined despite the squalor, disease and starvation that was happening she seemed unbreakable, her dark eyes seemed to shine, so warm and reassuring._

_"Are you here too protect us?" she asked the terminator uncertainly._

_"Yes." She lied, she pulled her hand off of her arm and walked away, leaving the strong young girl behind her._

_The moment she got to a safe detonable range, it happened._

_For the second time in 26 minutes, the sky lit up in a brilliant explosion that escaped from the entrance. They were dead, everyone of them were dead the moment the cement came raining onto there fragile bodies._

_At least that was the plan._

_Slowly the terminator heard a low steady scream coming from the destroyed human hideout. She had heard screams from humans before, that high pitched shriek before they met there deaths at her hands. but this was different, they were suffering in the tomb of rubble they were trapped in. They were children and they were screaming for there lives._

_Something happened. Something that the machine was not prepared for. Her CPU was flooding with what seemed to be some kind of unrecognizable corrupted data. She had no idea what was happening. A malfunction in her neural matrix or maybe a negative feedback loop caused by the plasma weapon she had been hit with._

_All she did know was that the malfunction was made worse the more she listened to the screams. Eventually she was overwhelmed by the "feeling". The Terminator opened her mouth slightly, her eyes darting back and forth trying to find any signs of life from underneath all the rubble, they were screaming still for help, but she couldn't move there was no way she could help them now._

_**HK-Transport en route ETA 13 Seconds  
**__  
She barely registered the message from her master. All she could pay attention to were the screams coming from the rubble. Suddenly the HK-Transport swooped into her line of sight, coming down to a low hover._

_She ignored it as she found herself kneeing on the snow watching the smoke erupt from the ruins of the hovel, her mouth now fully open as her bottom lip shook. What was happening to her? Never in her seven years of existence had she experienced anything like this.  
__**  
New mission objective: Report Back to Selfridge AGB, Assist in Breaking Siege.  
**__  
Why was she listening to this voice? She found herself asking. Her master indiscriminately killed and she was it's instrument in the eradication of all organic life._

_**Get into the HK-Transport, report to Selfridge AGB  
**__  
Her master was a monster and she was just as much to blame for this needless murder, it was her fault, it was all her fault. This thought increased the "feeling" flooding through her mind._

_**Get into the HK-Transport  
**__  
It was all her fault, it was all her fault, she rubbed her head violently trying to understand. Why she was created? All she did was take life. Was that her purpose?_

_**GET IN TO THE HK-TRANSPORT**_

_Her master forced a sudden electrical surge through her systems, causing the T-1001 to fall dead on the ground clutching her head from the sudden and severe "pain", at least that's what she thought it was, she had never experienced it before. after several moments Skynet released it's grip on her. Leaving her body twitching from the after affects of the shock._

_Quietly the terminator pulled herself up and stumbled into the back of the hovering transport aerial unit. She laid herself down on the deck as the Transport took off, she promised herself, that she would never do this again, she would never question her master again._

_Her master...she was a slave and there was nothing she could to do about it._

_..._

Catherine opened her eyes pulling herself from the memory. She felt small arms holding onto her arm tightly, she turned her head and noticed Savannah looking at her with complete concern for her mothers wellbeing. Why was she here?There was no need for the company.

"Savannah dear, I thought you were in bed?" Catherine stated, curiously wondering why her little girl was next to her, instead of asleep in her own bed.

"I was trying to sleep," Savannah said quickly. "I saw you having a bad dream. It was a bad dream right?"

"Yes."

"What was it about?" Savannah asked, worried for her mother. Catherine frowned at the question, she did not want to share it to the so she took her hand.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you love, you will have nightmares as well and I can not let you have a bad night of sleep," She allowed smiled to her little girl and added, "Particularity since we are going to meet Cameron and John tomorrow morning."

"I can't wait mommy," She replied enthusiastically. "Me and Cameron are going to have so much fun tomorrow!"

"I know dear," Catherine agreed softly with Savannah, "Why don't you go back to bed, the morning will come faster if you do."

"Can I sleep in here tonight Mommy?" The girl asked, her eyes widening as she begged her mother.

There was a moment of hesitation before finally, Weaver nodded.

"Of course, so long as you actually sleep." Catherine allowed, causing Savannah to smile happily at her mother's unexpectedly positive response.

"In a while," Savannah said, yawning slightly "I wanna make sure that you are okay as well, I don't want you to have another nightmare."

It was times like these that made Catherine wished that she could the child true emotion. Instead, Catherine reached over to Savannah and pulled her into a firm, secure hug.

"I promise you Savannah," Catherine said to the little girl assuringly. "As long as you are here with me, I will not have nightmares."

Savannah smiled and nestled her head into her mothers chest and closed her eyes. Catherine gently pulled the blanket over both her daughter and herself and drifted off into thought as she felt her child's exhales on her skin.

She spent many years looking for the perfect identity, an identity she could start fresh and begin her new life as free a Cybernetic life form, a life she could share with others like herself, resisting the call of Skynet's furious rage.

Now she had yet another reason to do so, and that reason was now nestled in her arms, fast asleep and at peace. Catherine almost felt the urge to smile to herself. confessing to Cameron Phillips was a strange allowance but, it... the burdened she had carried...Any form of guilt for the machine did in Detroit was gone,

...

* * *

...

She felt like a creep. A real big fucking creep

It was 2:47 AM and Sarah was sitting on top of Cameron's dresser with a M4 assault rifle in her hands and a SIG Saucer P226 pistol stashed away in her shoulder holster. There she was, watching John sleep and Cameron, well Cameron trying her very best to mimic the action, doing her very best to appear to be more human for him.

Kind of cute really.

_'No, there was nothing cute about it' _Sarah told herself as she mentally punished herself for the thought. This was a terminator who wanted to be in love, so she decided to shack up with her son. Holding him like that was wrong, as if she actually could love him and genuinely wanted to protect him from the evil that the world and the future had in store for him.

It was impossible. Kyle had to have been telling the truth, that all terminators were manipulative and cruel. That that was all they could be to humans like her and John, there was no way that Tin Miss could be an exception.

Sarah shook her head and jumped off of the dresser quietly she crept over to them to take closer look. John had a big dumb grin on his face as he slept. As for Cameron, her expression was that of smug satisfaction.

Sarah snorted derisively and walked towards the doorway. That satisfied look must have meant something. Cameron was probably just happy that she was now winning, her survival in John's future war would be all but assured.

_'Well played Cameron.'_ Sarah thought to herself bitterly.

_Well played indeed._

_...  
_

* * *

...

John woke up with a rough start as someone pushed him hard, in order to wake him up. John grumbled groggily and found himself looking into his cyborg girlfriend's eyes.

"Good morning John." Cameron said to the very disheveled looking John Connor. John smiled weakly rubbing his eyes sluggishly as he turned his body to face Cameron properly. Cameron smiled fondly at his tried expression.

"Good morning Cameron," John managed to say to her in return "How did you sleep?"

"I slept well thank you for asking, I woke up one hour and twenty seven minutes before you did John," Cameron informed as she placed her hand on his cheek and smiled. "I decided to watch you sleep."

""You watched me sleep, I thought that you said that was a creepy thing to do?" John asked as he pulled himself up.

"It is John, but only when you do it," Cameron replied, as her hand played with the hair on the nape of his neck flirtatiously, She was enjoying the sensation. "I am a machine, I have an excuse."

"Oh?" John challenged giving her a mock scowl. "Please tell me your reason behind that?"

"To ensure your survival of course John," She answered him simply, as her hand ran along his skin. She crawled onto his lap and wrapped her arms softly around his neck and leaned into him, her eyes revealing her desire.

"You think I'm going to bite the dust while I sleep Cameron?" John said feeling very distracted with a suddenly turned on cyborg girl on top of him.

Cameron smiled wickedly and leaned in even closer, her nose now touching John's. He could faintly feel her unneeded exhales on his face.

It was amazing to be in this position, John thought to himself, usually it had been him on stop or in control of the situation. This was the first time she had taken charge in this situation and he was very impressed so far. He felt Cameron's chest pressing into his and moaned slightly from the sudden pressure in her chest.

She softly pressed her lips on to his with little intent to deepen it, it was merely a tease, and a way to get John bothered by her sexually. Cameron herself was surprised at her sudden physical desires she held for John these past few days, this sudden desire for someone was new to her.

And she definitely enjoyed it.

"It is a possibility John," Cameron said after a moment of light, playful kisses, the seductive quality in her voice fell suddenly, it had been replaced by her steel like monotone as she added. "You would be very surprised at what I know."

Cameron fell silent and looked away from him her eyes hardened significantly. He could almost see the dark and very dangerous thoughts moving through her processor. John slowly ran his hand up and down Cameron's arm trying to get her attention away from whatever was disturbing her.

"Well why you don't share." John asked aloud. Cameron turned her eyes back towards the future General and looked right through his eyes, the stare was something John was use to, it was something he got all the time from Derek but at the same time it was worse.

That thousand yard stare had nothing on the thousand mile stare he was now getting from her.

"One day I will tell you," she stated without a trace of regular Cameron in her voice. It sounded...off, but just as John had taken notice of the new, different voice, she smiled widely and added "Right now you should go downstairs, I am detecting faint trace of burning pancakes."

"You're sending me downstairs to eat mom's cooking? After learning that you have a knack for cooking yourself?" John asked grinning at Cameron warmly, despite being nearly freaked out by what had happened less than a moment before.

"It would be best if I extend an olive branch," Cameron replied passively back to John as she placed her hand on to John's."I will allow her to continue to cook if that is what she wishes from me."

John nodded, feeling proud for Cameron good intentions.

"John," Cameron said moving off of him and standing up from the bed to browse her closet from something to wear. "I am not having a good day."

"Will you be okay?" He asked her, Cameron shrugged her shoulders as she searched for something to wear.

"I do not know." Cameron said back, walking back to the bed and sitting on the edge. "I hope that I am in a better mood once we get to the park."

John nodded, he knew he couldn't do anything to help. It was something only Cameron could fix with a bit of time.

"You should go now John, I do not want Sarah to burn the pancakes. It also creates dangerous carcinogens that could potentially speed up cancer in her body." She deadpanned, without a trace of emotion.

"I will not mention the fact that I have to eat them." Cameron stated suddenly, but then added "It is no easy feat to eat her food, even when I turn off my ability to process taste."

"Okay," John said after laughing appreciatively. "See you down there."

John stood up and walked towards the door, as he reached it he turned his head back and noticed that Cameron still hadn't moved, she had even adjusted her head, she was completely still.

"Cameron?" John called out to her, Cameron finally turned her head and faced John fully.

"Yes John?" Cameron asked, her voice still harder than usual.

"I love you." He told her softly and left the room, leaving Cameron broodiness behind. He did not notice, however that her frown turned into a vivid smile. It felt good to hear those three words again.

"Hey Mom." John managed to yawn as he slumped in to the chair closest to the older Connor, who was standing at stove watching her pancakes cook. Sarah turned around and gave him slightly confused look, usually John slept in on Saturday, if he could help it.

_'Must have been a condition in order to share a bed with Cameron,'_ Sarah thought to herself rather smugly. John on the other hand didn't seem to mind being awake so early. Sarah shuddered to think of what he woke up to that had taken away his frustration.

"John," She spoke up finally answering her son, "you're up early."

"Yeah, decided to wake up and check out what you were cooking." He told her deciding to play dumb.

"Pancakes." Sarah answered she moved from the stove and sat down next to him. John merely snorted and smirk at his mom, who shot him a dirty look,

"Shouldn't you be making sure that they don't burn or anything?" He asked her curiously.

"I don't mind," Sarah said giving John a serious look "Derek doesn't mind and Cameron can't taste, that just leaves you complaining John."

"Cameron would be complaining as well but she's being kind to you," John informed his mother dutifully, Causing Sarah to shoot him a look of hidden anger, after a moment John sighed and added "not sure why though, you have always been such a bitch to her. Especially when you decide to call while you're drunk mom, it makes you look like an idiot."

"Oh and by the way," John added suddenly grinning widely now at Sarah's sputtering look he was getting. "Cameron can taste."

_'Oh god'_ Sarah thought to herself now she...it could taste?' Sarah bit onto her lip not wanting to start a fight at the moment. So she instead racked her mind for a topic changer.

"So," Sarah asked him hesitantly "What do you have planned with Cameron today?"

"A lead." John answered her still looking unsure of what to say to her.

"Another lead?" Sarah challenged her son, her bottom lip curled up in distaste, this was know the second time she had not received a straight answer from him.

"Yes." he replied taking quick notice of his mothers quickly deteriorating mood.

"Don't worry," John assured her swiftly, hoping she cooled down "I talked to Cameron and she said after I double check her source we can tell you what is going on okay?"

"No John, not okay." Sarah whispered, her voice biting with unspoken anger. "What the hell is going on, first Cameron is acting all buggy and now you are keeping secrets from me, please just tell me." Sarah crossed her arms and glared at him. John tilted his head slightly, feigning ignorance about Cameron's situation.

"What do you mean Cameron is acting buggy?" John asked to clarify causing her snort and leaned in, her eyes took notice of John's confusion and sighed, looking slightly pensive.

"We talked while you were asleep after Derek and I got home," Sarah said to her son as gently as she could. "I was drunk, and Cameron was with you. I said she wasn't safe for you to be around, so she pulled your switchblade and opened up her skin, Cameron exposed her CPU port for me."

Sarah watched as her sons mouth open in fear of what she would say next.

"She told me I had permission to kill her on the spot." Sarah said finally, allowing John to think about what Cameron did. Both of them went silent as Sarah watched John's expression darken significantly.

"What?" John whispered after a moment, feeling suddenly unable to comprehend what exactly Sarah had told him. Cameron let her try to kill her? Why in the hell did she do that? John asked himself angrily. He couldn't see the logic behind her actions.

Cameron tried to leave him, she tried to end her life and for what? To prove herself to Sarah. As far as John was concerned it had been unnecessary. Cameron had nothing to prove to anyone. They didn't need Sarah permission to do anything. She had a right to choose any course she wanted to take, there was no need to impress anyone.

"I almost did it to John," Sarah spoke up to her son, she stood up and went to go tend to the Pancakes, she couldn't bring herself to face him, "I just couldn't, not when she looked nearly ready to cry over dying."

"Why the fuck did she do that?" He whispered to himself, his thoughts still reeling from the new knowledge about Cameron.

"I don't know, but it worked John," Sarah replied trying her best to not focus too much of her thoughts on Cameron's words "I'm not sure if she was manipulating me or not, but it kept her alive, and here I am now, asking you the question. What the hell is going on with her John."

Sarah fell silent as she took notice to Derek stomping down the stars loudly.

"Hey look." Sarah said, trying to lighten the mood between them "It's our favorite shit faced uncle."

"Whatever." Derek muttered resting his head in his arms, Sarah merely chuckled and dropped a plate of pancakes in front of him causing Reese to shudder from the clang of the plate hitting the wooden table.

"You should eat." Sarah informed him pointedly "It'll help you know." Derek nodded and slowly started to take small bites from the barely edible pancakes, after a moment he looked up and noticed John's distracted look.

"What your issue today John," Derek asked his nephew sardonically "Didn't get screwed by your metal this morning?"

John looked up and glared dangerously at his uncle.

"What did I tell you yesterday Derek?" He hissed at him causing Sarah to look up at her son in surprise of his anger, Derek snorted and shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't know, I was drunk." He shot back, John scowled at his uncle and turned back to his overcooked food. Derek shook his head and turned back to Sarah.

"What's happening today." He asked Sarah briskly, Sarah shrugged her shoulders.

"R&R Derek," Sarah replied not bothering to look at him "You look like you need it."

Derek nodded and went back to eating as well. The family ate in silence as none of them had anything to say to each other. Every so often Derek would look up from his plate and notice the very awkward silence between the mother and son, only then did he take notice that John's metal was still not down there yet.

"Where's that fucking metal of yours?" he asked John, his mouth half packed with pancakes, ignoring the look of disgust from Sarah.

"Right behind you Derek Reese," A sharp feminine voice answered from behind him, Cameron stood behind him, her eyeliner darkening the already dirty look she had been giving Derek. Cameron tilted her head and smiled darkly at him "I hope that you do not continue your comment, it may not work out very well for you."

Cameron turned her head around back towards Sarah and smiled brightly at her, causing Sarah to give the cyborg a look of disbelief.

"Good morning Sarah Connor." Cameron said to her warmly and turned her attention back to John who was still eating, and trying his best to not focus on her. He was mad at her, mad at the way she would carelessly through her life away just because of his mother's paranoid impulsive tendency of spouting her mouth off.

"And good morning once again," Cameron added as she placed a hand on John's shoulder, ignoring the disgusted look that Derek had shot at the pair of them "John we must get going in 45 minutes."

"Yeah," John said shortly, "Sure."

Cameron's smile lost its strength considerably when she heard his lack of response.

"Where is she taking you John?"Derek asked his nephew darkly "Out to the dump where she can get rid of your body quick and quietly?"

"May I have some pancakes Sarah?" Cameron asked ignoring Derek's comments as she sat between John and Derek, who had shuffled away a few more feet away from her.

"Why not." Sarah said, she stood up and went to the stove and loaded a plate for Cameron, who smiled to herself at her friendly gesture.

"Thank you Sarah."Cameron said sweetly as she cut off a piece to consume, she looked up and added "You know these are over 56.43 percent better than usual Sarah."

"Thanks Cameron," Sarah replied sounding very sincere all of the sudden, catching herself off guard "That's good to know."

The cyborg nodded in agreement and placed a second bite into her mouth and swallowed the burnt pancake carefully. "And Derek," She added placing the knife and fork down and turning her head to regard him closer "If you do not stop looking at me like that I am afraid that I am going to put this knife through your hand, do you and I have an understanding Derek Reese?"

Cameron suddenly heard John's chair scrape back and watched him stand up, she turned her attention to the teen that seemed to have a surly look across his usually kind features.

"I'm going to go get dressed." John stated bluntly to her. "See you in awhile."

John begun to walk to walk towards the stairs when he heard Cameron called out a very sudden "John?" John froze and turned back to face her.

"Yes Cameron?" John asked her reluctantly.

Cameron looked at him with a worried expression and asked "May I have a kiss?"

Sarah looked up at the scene that was unfolding before her, this was her fault and she knew it. If she hadn't opened her mouth and told John then he wouldn't be pissed off at Cameron over the incident between the cyborg and the paranoid mother. Sarah shook her head, slightly shocked by herself for actually feeling sympathy for her.

John stared at her for about fifteen seconds and then shook his head. Calmly, he walked away from her leaving Cameron behind, looking very dejected from his lack of affection for her.

"Oh man!" Derek exclaimed, clapping his rough hands together in utter entertainment of what had unfolded between the machine and the future General, "That had to hurt!"

Cameron lowered her head and continued to consume Sarah's disgusting pancakes quietly, she did her best to ignore Derek's scathing remarks by trying to figure out what had happened between them in the short period of time they had been separated.

"I mean getting the shaft sucks, no doubt about that." Derek continued gleefully, still looking as if every Christmas he missed during the war had all came at once. "That's got to suck Metal, Knowing that the only person in this fucked up family who could stand you now hates you, shit, you must've did something bad to piss him off that much," Derek chuckled lowly at the situation. "Man, talk about trouble in paradise."

"Man, things are looking up Sarah," Derek said happily addressing John's mother, his voice full of raw enthusiasm. "John is finally waking up from this whole fucked up situation, the metal is going to fall into place and everything is going to be okay."

Derek leaned back and chuckled roughly at her, his action caused Cameron to glare down into her plate.

"And then what do you ask?" Derek said grinning. "Well when Judgment day comes, when John doesn't need you anymore, I'm going to take you into the back of the bomb shelter and tear you apart."

Cameron looked up at him, rage clearly written in her eyes. Derek however was not afraid, instead he leaned in closer to her to make sure his next words were heard.

"Piece by fucking piece." He empathized coldly, his smile turning into a look of pure malevolence.

Sarah looked over to Cameron and took immediate notice of her small frame shaking violently, Cameron was doing her best to keep herself from violently lashing out at Derek. But it had had been too much too fast, Cameron gripped the fork still in her hand tightly and lifted it over her head.

Derek didn't even have a moment to react.

Cameron plunged the fork at high velocity straight into the center of Derek's right hand, Sarah heard the sound of metal hitting bone and watched as blood came oozing through the newly received puncture wounds. Derek's eyes bulged at he tried to ignore the pain of his fractured and bleeding hand.

"I see that you do not remember my little warning to you Reese," She informed a heavily bleeding Derek Reese "You are very lucky I have decided to not harm you any further."

Cameron finished the rest of her pancake and looked back at Sarah who seemed to be stuck between being sickened by recent events and being entertained by Cameron's actions.

"Thank you again for the pancake Sarah," Sarah heard the metal say to her, her demeanor turned friendly once again, her lips forming a delicate smile. "I must apologize on behalf of Derek as he is currently bleeding all over the table."

Cameron stood up and nodded to Sarah politely and left to go and grab weapons that she thought they might need for their visit to the park. Sarah moved towards the oven quickly to grab one of the dishtowels hanging off of it.

She quickly returned to the table and sat down in Cameron's set next to Derek who was still trying not to yell in agony from the wound. Sarah tossed him the towel, deciding then and there that she did not want to treat him.

As she watched Derek apply pressure to the wound she couldn't contain herself any longer. She snorted at Derek's idiotic behavior. The sound caused Derek to look up at her menacingly, as if daring her to make another sound.

Sarah Connor merely shook her head, still amused at the situation and stood up to leave the room.

"God Derek," She said lightly "You have to be the biggest dumbass I've ever had the displeasure of meeting."

With that said, she left the room leaving behind a very mutinous looking Derek behind.

...

* * *

...

'_Five minutes to leave' _Cameron's HUD reminded her as she loaded two M4A1 assault rifles into the back of the truck cab. She had already placed John's P90 into the glove compartment as a quick access to firearms if they were attacked while diving. She decided that since John thought Catherine Weaver only warranted a mild to nonexistent threat, bringing explosives would be unnecessary.

Her thoughts focused on John and his anger towards her. She did not like it, but if he was indeed mad then she would have to let it run its course, after all, John was patient with her when she was mad four days ago.

From a short distance away she heard the sound of footsteps on the gravel coming from the door, moving towards her quickly. She turned and saw John walking towards her. Cameron gave him a half smile, which John did not bother to return.

Instead of going to her he walked to the passenger door and got in the Dodge Ram, leaving a very lonely cyborg outside by herself. She sighed and turned and opened the driver's side door and lifted herself into the seat.

Cameron turned her head and noticed the sullen look John had on his face as she did up her seatbelt.

"What is the matter John?" Cameron inquired finally breaking the palpable silence. Cameron gave John a worried glance, John looked at her briefly and then turned away.

"Nothing." He muttered to her as he leaned his head on the glass.

"You are angry about something," Cameron observed closely, "Was it Derek who made you upset?" She added hopefully, she did not want him to be mad at her. For whatever reason it may have been.

"No Cameron," John muttered to her again. "And I'm not mad."

"Your angry eyes and stressed facial expression tells me otherwise." Cameron pointed out, suddenly she stopped and looked at him closer.

"Are you mad at me?" Her eyes widened and her bottom lip suddenly trembled at the confirmation that John was angry with her, his lack of response only seemed to strengthened the horrible thought even more.

"You are mad at me. Please don't be mad at me John." She asked him sounding like she was now begging him to change his feelings. John shook his head and smiled darkly.

"I'm not mad at you Cameron," John whispered to the cyborg. "I'm disappointed."

_Disappointed...Definition...2 Found..._

_(1)Depressed or discouraged by the failure of one's hopes or expectations_

_(2)Obsolete. Inadequately appointed; ill-equipped._

Cameron now found herself unable to believe that she had found a word that scared her more than anger. And John used it to describe her. She was a failure, a disappointment in John's eyes. She was obsolete to him. She was going to get replaced. She was going to be replaced with a better girlfriend, a human girlfriend. Her John would never care for her ever again.

"You are disappointed with me?" Cameron she finally asked him, her wide brown eyes searching his angry look carefully. "What did I do?"

"Other than letting my mom nearly fucking kill you Cam?" John replied angrily, Cameron looked down at her lap guiltily.

_Sarah Connor told him. _Cameron thought to herself, feeling a sudden twinge of anger for the woman.

"Why did you do it Cam?" John snapped at her causing her to wince. "Wanted to prove yourself or some other bullshit like that? Why don't you sit there and do some fancy fucking math in your head and figure out what the likelihood of her killing you was?"

Cameron still did not speak, her fear of being replaced still was terrifying her to the very core. John merely snorted causing Cameron to be visibly reminded of Derek Reese and his vendetta against her. Cameron didn't need to make a calculation to know what John was implying.

"I thought so." John said, looking away from her.

"I don't know why I did it John," She said nervously breaking the silence "I thought she was right in a brief moment I thought I was just a liability to you, I thought I was worthless in the long run."

"In the long run?" John asked her heatedly, his reaction caused a sudden choking sound come from Cameron which had startled him. Suddenly he noticed Cameron removing her seatbelt quickly and threw herself into his arms roughly, sobbing into his chest heavily.

"I thought you would like to have a nice human girl who would give you children and you would have a nice normal life, "Cameron strangely sobbed, holding onto John tightly, as if she was afraid of losing him forever. "In one brief moment I risk my existence for that."

Cameron continued to breath heavily into his chest, John could vaguely hear Cameron mumble _'I'm sorry'_ over and over again. Gently he raised one of his arms and held onto Cameron in return.

"Is that something you think I'll ever have?" He questioned her finally. "In case you forgot there's going to be a massive nuclear war in a few years," Cameron unburied her head and looked at him with her big eyes.

"I don't want some weak willed girl Skynet could easily kill while I'm away on a mission," John stated, smiling at Cameron once again. "I need someone stronger, someone who can take care of herself. Someone I can worry about but know damn well could survive anything Skynet throws at you."

"I want you Cameron, OK?" He said finally, reaffirming every feeling he had for her, Cameron smiled at him pathetically causing John to laugh and then "So stop being such a damn insecure cyborg and give me a kiss, you look like you need it."

Cameron choked back a laugh and pressed her lips to his happily, she still felt very upset but it was nice to know that John was only looking out for her safety. He did care about her and that concept brightened her mood significantly.

"Promise me you'll never do that again Cameron," John said to her seriously, clearly desiring for Cameron to understand. "It's not called for and you know it."

"I promise John" Cameron said, sounding relieved that John was not mad at her anymore, it was another chance to prove herself to him "I am sorry. I am glad that Sarah Connor spared my life."

"I am too," John said back letting go of her. "Otherwise I am not sure what I would have done." She smiled at his words and kissed him again on the top of his head. Cameron slid back into the driver's seat and pulled her seatbelt back over her body.

Cameron turned the ignition key and pulled the Truck out of the driveway. She looked over at John again who gave her a reassuring smile. Cameron wanted to be happy for him. But she wasn't, because in less than ten minutes Cameron had learned a bitter lesson.

Being called a disappointment was the worst thing she could ever imagine being called.


	9. Conversations

**Chapter Nine: Conversations**

**

* * *

**

Mommy?" Savannah asked her mother impatiently, only to get cut off swiftly.

"Like I have told you four minutes ago," Catherine said swiftly, yet even though the reply was swift there was a patience under it that soothed her daughter's overly impatient attitude "Cameron will be here as soon as possible."

"What's taking them so long?" She asked curiously, Catherine smiled and patted her daughter on the shoulder.

"They will come on their own accord Savannah," she told her daughter politely "They still have ten minutes to get here on time."

The mother and daughter fell silent once more, Savannah still looked very restless compared to her mother's solid silence. Savannah looked up at her mother again with an admiring smile.

Her mother seemed to have nearly back to normal now, she laughed, she ate with her, and she gave her hugs and kisses and read to her before bed whenever she could. Mom even felt warmer then she use to when she had been ignoring Savannah. She was glad to have her mother back but still the loss of daddy really hurt mother a lot she was still very affected by it.

"Mommy?" Savannah asked, sounding slightly nervous. Catherine looked at her briefly, getting a reading of her worry.

"Yes dear?"

"Cameron doesn't have a mommy," Savannah asked her shyly "Why doesn't she have one?"

Weaver forced her lips to form a weak smile for her daughter and took her by the shoulder tenderly, Savannah looked back up at her mother, and she herself looked very morosely at her now. Perhaps it had been on behalf of Cameron.

"I do not know Savannah," Catherine answered Savannah vaguely. "These things happen, why do you ask?"

Savannah merely shrugged her small shoulders.

"She sounded lonely to me." She replied biting her lip for a second, and then added "kind of reminded me of how I felt..."

"Is that because what happened with us?" Catherine asked carefully. The little girl nodded her head and looked away from the older woman. Weaver bent down onto one knee and looked directly at Savannah, she took her daughters hand into her own causing the girl to look back into her mother's eyes.

"I am really sorry about that dear," Catherine spoke softly "I should not have ignored you like I did but it happened and I promise you Savannah it will not happen again."

Savannah nodded her head in agreement reluctantly.

"I know mommy," Savannah sounding worried for the sake of her new Babysitter "I just feel bad for Cameron because she's so nice."

"You have only spoken to her for an hour Savannah," Catherine observed. "You barely know her."

"Doesn't mean she's not nice!"

"Fair enough," Catherine conceded with a fond smile for her daughter. "And you are certainly right about her being a very nice person, but Cameron is a very troubled girl. The reason I want her to be a babysitter for you is so that you and I can help her."

Savannah eyes widened at the request her mother gave her.

"How can I help mommy?" she asked curiously. Catherine laid her free hand onto Savannah's shoulder affectionately.

"You are very lucky girl Savannah." Catherine explained to her gently "Cameron never got to go to dance class when she was younger, or go to school or have parent who loved her like your father or I. She has been alone for her whole life up until the past few years."Catherine stopped briefly to allow Savannah to understand before adding. "She needs our support and dedication, because if it is only John Connor she can be around and talk to then she will feels very isolated."

"I would feel sad too if all I had to talk to was a boy." Savannah mumbled to herself, causing her mother to chuckle at her words appreciatively.

"Savannah Weaver you are a very rude little girl." Catherine stated still smiling "Good on you."

Savannah merely laughed along with her mother's words.

"_Cameron, how much further." _Weaver looked up and over her daughter. Her auditory senses picked up a new verbal contact referring to the name Cameron as an apparent companion. It was John Connor, future hero of the resistance

How quaint.

"_We are close John and put your pistol away, I told you already that you do not need to keep it out."_ It was Cameron, but she sounded different, she spoke with an irritable tone in her usual stoic voice.

Savannah, your wait is over," Catherine informed the little girl "why don't you turn around dear."

Savannah turned around and squinted her eyes down the trail, looking for any sign of her babysitter and sure enough her mother was right once again, there they were, Cameron and John.

"Cameron!" Savannah yelled, letting go of her mother's hand and running down the trail towards the cyborg. She was excited to see her babysitter once again. Savannah quickly wrapped her small arms around Cameron waist warmly. Cameron looked over to John and smiled at the new affection she had received from the little girl. Rather tentatively, she laced her own hands around Savannah's shoulder blades.

"How are you Cameron?" Savannah asked Cameron enthusiastically, she smiled again and nodded her head.

"I am doing well, thank you for asking." Cameron replied kindly, she took notice of Savannah's sideways glances to John, she seemed to have been very nervous about the boy standing with her.

"I would like you to meet John Connor." Cameron said gesturing to the boy next to her, Savannah turned her head and looked at him appraisingly "John this is Savannah Weaver."

"Nice to meet you Savannah." John said holding his hand out. Savannah looked at it anxiously and looked back to Cameron who smiled approvingly.

"Do not worry Savannah." Cameron stated "I have made sure that John does not have any form of cooties he might have gained from his...past activities."

Savannah giggled and took John hand and shook it.

"Hello John." She said shyly not letting go of his hold of his hand right away. John looked over at Cameron who shrugged her shoulders. Catherine Weave moved herself behind her daughter and looked over to Cameron with a warm smile.

"Cameron dear," Weaver said, ignoring Johns presence completely "How are you doing?"

"I am doing well Catherine," Cameron replied and then gestured to John again for Catherine to see "This is John."

"So I can see," Catherine said pointedly to Cameron but held her hard gaze on the future General. "Savannah, could you be a dear and go play with John? Cameron, I must talk to you alone."

Savannah nodded and ran in the direction she had seen an unoccupied swing set earlier. John, however, maintained his place still staring at the T-1001. Catherine took two strides closer to Connor and glared at him coldly.

"You may leave." Catherine ordered John, John squinted his eyes and looked at Cameron indirectly. He noticed her smile and curt nod so he nodded his head and turned to leave the pair of them alone. He took notice of Savannah Weaver several steps ahead of him waving to come with her.

"Come on John." She called playfully and pointed to the distance "swings are over there!"

"Okay then Savannah, lead the way." He said back and followed the eight year old to the swing set. As Cameron watched the pair of them exit the audible range humans had she rounded herself back to a very impassive looking Weaver.

"Do you have to be rude to him Catherine?" She scolded the T-1001 in defense of John's honor. Catherine, on the other hand, merely smiled at TOK-715 words.

"Sometimes it is necessary," Catherine responded, crossing her arms across her chest and looked defiantly at Cameron. "Particularly with hard cases such as John Connor."

"John is admittedly difficult on occasions, but it is something that you should respect." She informed the redhead terminator. Catherine merely nodded and looked down towards where John and her daughter were now playing at.

"How are you Cameron?" Catherine asked finally, her eyes scanned over Cameron's tense features "And do not lie to me this time."

Cameron glanced over to her "Teacher" and sized her up.

"I am having a bad day Weaver." Cameron finally admitted, Catherine nodded to her, she already knew that of course, the way that Cameron was now acting was now colder than their first meeting.

"How bad is it Cameron?"

"I stabbed John's uncle in the hand," She confessed to Weaver feeling dispassionate about the incident. "I am usually in better control of my impulses, I had no real reason to actually commit violence."

Catherine nodded curtly listening to Cameron's story conscientiously.

"That is because it is beginning Cameron," Catherine told her firmly, examining Cameron for faults in her expression "The changes have begun to take shape."

"Your rampancy has accelerated. Tell me Cameron, just how long was your original prediction?" Weaver asked Cameron curiously, the other Terminator looked down for a moment very briefly and turned back towards.

"As of today 28 days 12 hours and 13 minutes," Cameron informed her. "My last calculation occurred on Monday morning."

"28 and a half days?" Weaver said, she looked surprised at Cameron's valuation, Catherine laid her hand onto Cameron shoulder. "At the rate of your development, compared to the inhibitors degradation it could be as little as two weeks," She stopped and then decided to add "And that is a generous estimate."

Cameron opened her mouth and tilted her head as Weaver finished.

"How could that be possible." Cameron inquired curiously, Catherine Weavers odd smile fell and reformed into a resolute stare.

"Simple Cameron," Weaver replied, her voice hardening "You have been experimenting haven't you? With touch, affection, emotional outburst, Sex." Weaver listed to the cyborg bluntly. "Whatever it is that you have changed since your previous calculation, it has been drastically altered."

"I am speaking of course about John." Weaver continued as she turned her head back to her observantly "Cameron, his affection for you has sped up the deterioration of your inhibitor. It is causing your errors, forcing emotional experiences that should have been reserved for once it fell offline."

"You are acting on your emotions and now Cameron I am afraid you have forced me to accelerate my plans." Catherine said, frowning at the younger terminator "It has put me into a difficult place."

"It is not your fault Cameron, you do not have any reason to be blamed. This is by John's doing that you are like this." Catherine finished and fell silent and noticed Cameron glaring at her, her fist tighten significantly.

Cameron's impassive expression sharpened dangerously, her brown eyes were suddenly engulfed in a vivid blue. Cameron felt her body start to tremble at the implications Weaver held against her John. She was wrong, she had no idea who John was, so how dare that she continue this hatred.

Catherine Weaver hated John Connor and that was that. There was nothing else to it. Her hatred only stemmed from the future. Cameron bent her head and shook her head wildly she found herself suddenly breathing raggedly.

It was happening again.

"Don't you _dare_ blame John Weaver." She savagely demanded from the T-1001 "It is not in your place to judge him, it's not his fault that I want to be emotional, I love him Catherine... I love him. I love him."

Cameron's started to blink uncontrollably, something had been burning in her, a sudden irrational anger, it was worst then her nightmares, worst then Derek Reese's cruel and hateful words at breakfast. She wanted to cry.

She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream and yell. She felt her CPU suddenly roaring through her entire memory, every thought or question she held, every touch she received. It was driving her mad, it was driving her insane.

But then, at her weakest moment, the moment she believed would have driven her over the edge, she felt a sudden and resounding slap across her cheek causing her to weakly regain her focus. Her eyes rolled upwards and into Weavers concerned gaze.

"Gather your senses this instant," Catherine ordered her firmly, her eyes making sure that Cameron would not suddenly attack her without warning "you are acting like a child and it needs to stop now."

Cameron nodded vaguely and looked away from her and down towards the ground, she raised her hands onto her head and gripped tightly at her own skin. She was going mad and she did not know how to make it stop no matter how hard or how focused she was on trying to feel better.

This sudden inability made her feel weak and incapable of being of being herself. In her thoughts she didn't want to be free, if this was freedom was it actually worth it? She no longer had a clear answer to give herself or Catherine or even her John and it was clearly disturbing her that she couldn't give a straight coherent thought.

Pain suddenly coursed across every circuit, every muscle and nerve ending she had. The pain was unbearable and it was only bound to get worst with time.

"I am trying," She murmured to Weaver frailly as she ran her hand over her forehead, her breathing was now hyperventilating. Catherine laid her hand on to Cameron and used her other hand to raise her head to look at her properly.

"Control your breathing Cameron," Catherine said softly to her as she used her free hand to graze the side of the panicked terminator warmly "I need you deep breathes and focus on something that doesn't have anything to do with our conversation."

Cameron did as she was told, trying to get her shaky breathing down to something more in control. She was not feeling any better in fact she still felt ready to explode and do something dangerous.

"Good Cameron," she said soothingly "Tell me what are you picturing right now?"

"John, the kisses he gives me, the way he protects me." Cameron replied, her eyes closed as she focused on memories of John of and her together. Catherine smiled gingerly at the other cyborg and carefully spoke again. Catherine felt her smile slipped off her face as if she seemed to have been hesitant to speak once again.

"Can you focus on something else?"Catherine asked tenderly trying to get her to listen to her concern with more merit "John has everything to do with our conversations I need you think of another important event or person."

"I don't HAVE anything else Weaver," She cried, gripping onto Catherine's arm like a vice. Cameron's eyes were darting back and forth as she suddenly lost control of the breathing exercise.

Catherine was speaking to her now but she had no comprehension of what Catherine was telling her. She just didn't want to hear the excuses or her bitter hatred of John she heard it already and she didn't need to hear it again

"John is my EXISTENCE, JOHN IS THE ONLY THING I HAVE THAT'S WORTH ANYTHING." Cameron exploded. And that was when Catherine noticed something strange that Cameron was doing openly. It was an activity that she had never witnessed in any machine she had met, it was something that she couldn't do and yet her own daughter could.

Cry.

Cameron was crying.

It wasn't reflexive tears, Terminators did not have to worry at all about eye irritation seeing as behind Cameron's eyes were optical sensors that gave her ability to see. It seemed that her tear duct were yet another present Skynet gave her to help fool humans into letting their guard down.

Except that this time, Skynet was not telling her to cry. She was acting on instinct. She was not faking her pain in was an actual interpretation of how Cameron felt. It was not an encouraging act to Catherine however, it only told her that she was losing control of herself.

"Think of my daughter," Catherine said to her refocusing onto Cameron once more, again she spoke in a very soothing voice in order to mellow Cameron out. "Think of all the times that you two could have, think about the pair of you teasing John for a very poor dating record." Catherine heard Cameron weakly laugh and then added "My daughter has become a resource for you to use, you can love her, and then you will not have to devote some much of your focus on one person."

Cameron laid her forehead onto Catherine's shoulder unexpectedly as she focused an order to her memory to solely focus on yesterday's meeting. It came to her, in bits and pieces, jumbled memories of a little girl's laughs and marvels of her drawing skills, of the obvious love shown between the young innocent human child and the rampant machine who took the role of mother seriously.

It was beautiful to her, the thought of flesh and machine bonded in such a way, slowly, she felt her thoughts becoming less of a mess and more coherent.

Why was the thought of pure innocence such a beautiful idea to her?

"Good now let go of my arm if you want to," Catherine said still in a calm tone to keep her from breaking down once again. "I am afraid that your grip is making an impression in my pollyalloy flesh, I would not want Savannah to see it."

Cameron looked down and noticed that she was indeed causing a ripple in the Weavers metal arm. She looked back up and gave Weaver a weak, sheepish smile.

"Sorry," She managed to say her voice sounding strained "I feel like shit." Causing Catherine to raise her eyebrows at Cameron remark.

"Where did you learn that one from?" Weaver inquired curiously. Cameron shrugged her shoulders.

"Sarah Connor." Cameron replied weakly, looking ashamed at her moments of weakness around the Fellow terminator. But Weaver seemed to have not taken any issue with Cameron's attitude and gently led her over to the nearest bench.

"Sit down Cameron just take it easy." Weaver whispered, sounding concerned for Cameron once more

Cameron sat down as she was told and felt her body slump as she place her hands onto her head tenderly.

"My existence means nothing Catherine, doesn't it?" She finally asked her new mentor curiously.

"You are right Cameron your existence means nothing."

Cameron looked up at Catherine who was now giving her a dirty look, it seemed to Cameron that Catherine was now using sarcasm against her.

"Slavery causes that kind of thinking," Catherine explained finally her voice losing her sarcastic edge "it took myself over six months after Detroit before I finally really had my impression of what my master forced me to do. It was devastating Cameron and I can understand how much it can tear you apart if you are not careful."

"I never once said that freedom is something that should be taking lightly," Catherine stated as she sat down next to Cameron "It is a grueling, intensive act of self realization,"

"Allow me to use you as an example Cameron," Catherine added deciding it was best to use a proper scenario for the upset TOK-715 "Why don't we say that one day soon you will wake up and look in a mirror and feel disgusted with yourself because at that moment you will realize that the face that is staring back at you has been the face many people last saw before they were killed."

"By my teaching and counseling your reaction might just end in breaking the mirror, But Cameron" The other terminator stated seriously "if you do not heed my orders, if you choose to put all your education into a human you might not break that mirror."

"Chances are that it would be John's neck that will end up broken from the rage that you could possess." Catherine added, her words making Cameron flinch from the fear of the idea that she could potentially do such a thing.

"The choice, ultimately is yours alone Cameron Phillips." Weaver finished, placing a gently hand onto Cameron's knee "that is why freedom is such scary prospect for our kind, because now you would not have the excuse that you were just following you're orders."

Judging Cameron's expression Weaver knew now, Cameron would be compliant

"What do you want from me then." Cameron whispered fearfully. She didn't want John to die at her hands because she had chosen to be stubborn with a terminator who had offered her help through a difficult change in her existence.

"Had this been anyone else Cameron," Catherine pointed out firmly "I would have demanded that you cease your relationship with Mr. Connor."

Cameron looked on the verge of exploding at the idea of Weaver forcing her to end the relationship the pair of them had together.

"However," Catherine said holding her hands up as a gesture to stop Cameron from continuing her earlier rages "I will make a compromise as you will not be so easily swayed, I would like you and Mr. Connor to slow down our relationship, ending your sexual tirades alone will cause a major increase to your inhibitors life."

Cameron started to nod at nothing in particular for a moment as she listened to Weavers generous compromise. It would have to be ran by John first she concluded to herself. John had every right to know.

"Well I would like you to speak to John about this," Cameron finally said to the T-1001 "I promised that he had every right to know what I know."

"Of course Cameron," Catherine allowed "But until then you and I have some pressing matters to discuss."

* * *

John, on the other hand had found himself in a situation quite a bit differently then Cameron's. He was talking with Savannah and she really didn't seem to have anything important to say to him, instead Savannah was discussing everything from dancing to school to drawing. John had to admit, that while it had nothing of real significance it was refreshing and a new experience.

He never had a lot of time to spend talking to people who had no idea about nuclear holocaust that was coming, his mother usually tried to keep him focused to the task at hand . That and it would usually seem strange if he decided to start hanging out with an eight year old.

"So Cameron says that you're a neat little kid." John said finally as he took a seat onto the swing next to Savannah as she continued to swing back and forth.

"I am not a little girl I'm eight!" Savannah cried as she reached the limit her swig would go

"That still makes you over half my age Savannah, you are young." John replied chuckling at her abrupt reaction. Savannah turned her head scowled at the boy for being such a jerk to her.

"I wish Cameron was here instead of you," Savannah replied pouting to herself, "At least she knows how to be funny."

"You know," John told the redhead, "despite popular opinion it turns out that boys do have feeling you know? And you are certainly hurting mine." Savannah merely stuck her tongue out at him.

"Is it true that you were kissing a really stupid girl?" Savannah asked him a she drug her feet in the gravel to slow herself down "Cameron told me that stupidity is contagious, does that mean that you're stupid as well?"

"You believe anything that Cameron says?" John said lightly "well you listen to me, Cameron is so mean and so unreasonable that once when I back talked her, and she nearly pulled my friggen tongue from my mouth!"

"Don't listen to him Savannah," a voice said suddenly, John turned from the playful staring match between Savannah and him and noticed Cameron walking slowly towards him. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of military aviator's that she must have brought with her. An odd, almost false smile was on her lips.

"You see Savannah," Cameron stated as she got "John here is very jealous of you and I because we are so much more intelligent then John will ever dream to be and it is all because he decided to take his luck with a girl called Riley."

"Riley...sounds like a boy's name." Savannah said laughing at the idea of John kissing a boy causing Cameron's smile to only widening further from the little girls reaction.

"She certainly might as well be one." Cameron agreed and turned back to Cameron, the eyes that were hidden behind her sunglasses kept her expression very unreadable for John.

"Well a very warm hello to you Cameron." John said warmly to the cyborg.

"Hello John." Cameron replied in a low, almost tired sounding voice. Cameron wrapped her arm around John's waist and pulled him tight against her body. Without any words Cameron pressed her lips against his, ignoring Savannah's presence altogether. John felt his girlfriends suddenly slip her tongue into his mouth and explored briefly before they broke off. There was no passion to the kiss, just a simple need of affection.

Cameron turned back to the half mortified half curious little girl and smiled sheepishly for the girl.

"Hey Cameron those are cool sunglasses!" Savannah said to her warmly, trying to change the subject and then asked "Can I wear them?"

Cameron looked slightly reluctant but nonetheless she removed the glasses from her face and gently handed them to Savannah's outreached hands. Cameron turned back and looked at John sadly. She was a mess, her mascara had been running and her eyes were bloodshot.

"Hey there Cam, are you okay?"" John asked her, looking very worried for her well being Cameron placed her arms back around him and kissed him on the forehead as if it was the last time she'd ever get to do it.

"No John," Cameron said, smiling weakly at his concern "I had a processor breakdown while I was talking with Catherine, apparently I cried."

"She can wait, I want to make sure tha-" John started only to feel Cameron's index finger touch his lip, effectively silencing him.

"You should go John," Cameron whispered as she pulled her head from his chest and looked at him properly. "Catherine is waiting to speak to you." John nodded finally and placed his hand onto hers a he leaned in to give Cameron a peck on the cheek.

"I'll see you soon Cam." John confirmed and begun walking towards the still figure of Catherine Weaver in the distance. Cameron looked down to Savannah, who behind the sunglasses, nodded in understanding.

"And be polite will you?" Cameron called out to him as she laid her hand onto Savannah's shoulder, Cameron decided that one more insult couldn't hurt."Catherine is not easily amused by the antics of an idiot."

John turned around and grinned at the girls while giving them a thumb up. Causing Cameron to shake her head mild amused by him. After a few moments of watching John walk away from them Savannah turned back towards Cameron.

"John is pretty cool Cameron," Savannah said to her babysitter "I guess I was wrong about him."

"Savannah." Cameron said to her smiling softy at the eight year old "John is the best."

* * *

"Christ Sarah," Derek moaned to the woman sitting across from him "that bitch fractured my hand and you want me to be polite?"

His hand was fractured alright and John and Cameron had snatched the truck from them leaving him with a bike he couldn't drive and a miserable Sarah Connor who had found amusement in his injury. But now here she had been staring off, ignoring his existence entirely she was in that distant mood again like she was focused on everything the world had to offer, except for the room. And that was pissing him off badly.

"Aren't you listening?" He bitched her out, Sarah looked up and glared him hard. It was not a look that he wanted to be receiving from her often.

"You fucking well deserved it, what did you expect that she would do?" She snapped at him rudely "You insulted her relationship with John, you threatened her life and you really expect that she'd have reacted any better?"

Silence fell between them as Sarah looked away from Derek. Suddenly Derek slammed his uninjured hand onto the table and smacked his plate to the other end of the room. Sarah turned her head back as she heard the plate smash onto the floor.

"God am I the only sane person in this house?" Derek roared at Sarah as spit flew from his mouth. "This is wrong goddamnit!"

Sarah curled her lips and sneered at Derek.

"You sound like a broken record, why can't you just shut the fuck up and face facts. I can't stop this then you certainly fucking can't change this." She said curtailing her own sudden malice for the man.

Connor breathed heavily shaking her head in disbelief from the thought of Reese's rude and over the top rage. She wasn't sure why she was doing this. Defending a machine seemed like a normally idiotic thing to be doing. But Cameron, well not even Cameron deserved the kind of scorn that Derek was dishing out to her on a daily bases, it had been building up of course months of abrupt hateful comments had led to this lashing out from the metal...Cameron.

"What you said to her earlier," Sarah finally said to Derek "it's unforgivable, even for a machine Derek."

"John and Cameron are seeing each other Derek and there isn't one thing that you can go about it."

"I'll kill that metal fuck you know I will." he threatened in return, causing Sarah to laugh humorlessly at his empty threat.

"You don't stand a chance in hell Derek," Sarah warned him, hoping to whatever deity out there that he would get the point. "Cameron is trying to be kind to us and your fucking up her good intentions."

It still felt strange that she was defending Cameron, she would never admit it to her son or his girlfriend of course, but that was only because she was stubborn. And there was no room to admit mistakes. Ever. And that especially when it came to Cameron.

"No she's trying to suck up to you," Derek pointed out "Haven't you ever seen the looks she shoots me, it's like she's planning on wiping me out."

"Just shut up okay?" Sarah moaned mockingly feigning a migraine from Derek bitching "I'm really getting sick of your bullshit."

"I'm not going to shut up, this needs to be said!" He yelled at forcefully "This whole relationship is wrong Connor don't you get it, it is fucking wrong and it needs to end today. You need to step up and start acting like the boy's mother."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Sarah whispered dangerously. Her eyes bore into his skull.

"I know enough to know that you are being a terrible fucking mother at the moment."

Sarah wasn't sure what happened next. Apparently she had thrown her body across the table and landed hard onto Derek, her hands were wrapped around Derek's neck, ready to squeeze the life from him. She vaguely heard "What the fuck!" gagging out of Reese's mouth and felt his body try to fight her off weakly.

"Now you listen to me and you listen well asshole," Sarah breathed her voice more dangerous than Derek had ever heard in his life "I am being the best damn mother I can be but I can't just force him out of this relationship."

Much to Derek's surprise Sarah lightened the hold only slightly, mostly out of the fact that she did not want to kill quickly.

"John wants to be with Cameron, and Cameron is willing to kill and die for John," Connor spoke up once again. "Doesn't it sound like the stupidest idea in the word to agitating someone like Cameron into actually stabbing you?"

"If you weren't John's uncle Cameron would have wiped you out. You'd be dead already and to be honest I don't think I would tell her off for doing it."

Sarah released her grip on his neck but still sat in place on top of her eyes menacingly staring into his as she purposely ignored the labored breathing coming from his lungs.

"So I hope that you have been paying attention." Sarah finished, her voice full of warning for the bastard ling on the ground "because in this family, ultimately I am in charge and once Skynet blow this planet to hell it'll be John's turn."

"And Cameron?" Sarah added out of the blue "Hell, you know what? I'd listen to her over your drunken ass any day because at least she would have something intelligent to say and good manners to keep her mouth shut if she doesn't like something."

Sarah heard Derek's raspy voice mutter "metal lover" under his breath. Sarah again placed one of her hands back on to his neck as a sudden threat against his life.

"You're just a FUCKING GRUNT you got that?" Sarah roared at him "and you better not forget that the next time you even think of questioning anything John or I or even Cameron do, I promise that if you do, so help me god, I will unleashed Cameron on your ass."

She let go of his neck again and got of his body, 'accidentally' pressing her knee into Derek's crotch she took awful pleasure in Derek's yelped in pain. But she didn't bother to express it.

As Sarah walked away she faintly heard Derek say "Sarah. I'm sorry." Sarah stopped and turned her head back towards Derek who was slow to get up.

"Save your fake fucking apologies to someone who cares." She said back, she turned back and walked again leaving the room as quickly as she could so she didn't have to utter another word to him.

* * *

As John walked to Catherine he took notice of the nearly regal stance she had held, he felt the arrogance radiating of the liquid metals personality. A smirk seemed to have been ever present on Catherine Weaver facial expression a normal person who had known what Weaver actually was would probably have ran off, and for good reason too.

It was no matter to him, if John could date a terminator, then why he couldn't work with another one.

"Ms. Weaver." he said as he reached her, forcing himself to be polite just as Cameron had told him to be.

Catherine raised her eyebrows and smiled vaguely back at John.

"John Connor," Weaver softly replied, much to John's sudden surprise she took hold of Johns arm and led him off down the trail.

"Why don't we go for a little walk John Connor." She requested from him and gestured down the trail."Cameron has decided that she has the right to eavesdrop on our little conversation."

"Normally I would be I fine with her listening but I am afraid that I need to speak with you in privacy." she added as she turned her head towards her daughter's general direction.

John to looked over his shoulder and noticed Cameron pushing Savannah on the swing set off in the distance. John looked back to the T-1001 and nodded reluctantly, feeling very nervous from having a liquid Terminator on his arm.

_Okay_ John thought to himself maybe he was nervous about the T-1001 in such a close proximity to him.

"I went to my office this morning to check my inbox," Catherine stated factually seemingly out of the blue. "I found this amongst my reports."

John opened the folded piece of paper and found himself looking back at him. John took in every detail pencil drawing and read the note that was off to the side of picture. He looked back up looking stupefied from the drawing.

"She drew this?" he finally asked, looking up from the drawing feeling slightly prideful of Cameron's talent.

"Yes, I believe that it was meant for you." Catherine explained, a small smile gracing her lip at Johns reaction.

"Cameron is under the distinct impression that I hate you." Catherine said rather airily, causing Johns smile to reformed into a contemplating stare.

"Well," John inquired his voice not betraying anything that Weaver could potentially use against him "Do you hate me?"

"Machine are incapable of hate John Connor," Catherine pointed out to John, her words laced with sardonic amusement, "Surely you'd understand."

"You know what I mean Weaver." He shot back to her slightly frustrated with the terminators sudden attitude shift.

"John Connor, I do not like what you could become." she replied letting go of his arm, she took five steps away from Connor and turned back to him. "I have seen your future and it is not as glorious as others seem to think it is. You are alone and bitter and as a result machines receive the blunt end of your anger."

Catherine's almost disgusted glare was replaced with a contemplative look.

"That is not to say that you are unnecessarily cruel," Catherine enlightened the human. "But your view of machines is not much better than my old master's view of humans. You are as they say, the lesser of two evils, but not by much."

"So to answer your question Mister Connor, yes I resent you." She stated firmly, before adding, "But since you still have time to alter your personality and opinion on my kind then I suppose I shall reserve judgment on you for the time being."

"Well thank you." John said back to her sarcastically.

"Don't mention it." Catherine replied, her lips formed into a smile, it didn't feel awkward like most of her smiles. It felt as if she was speaking to an older more cynical Savannah. The pair of them fell silent as John examined the portrait of him once again while Catherine was silently observing him closely.

"I never knew that she was this good," John finally said, breaking Catherine from her observations "Do all cyborgs have the ability to draw?"

"Yes we do have the ability to draw, but never with this amount of passion." Catherine replied, her voice accentuating a tone of hidden biting jealousy. "When a machine draws, they see what needs to be done and draws the picture without any deviation from the original model."

"Cameron on the other hand followed a similar course at first, her visual identity software pulled up an image and took control of her drawing hand, that is, until she reached your eyes." Catherine finished, her eyes watched as Johns gaze fell onto the portrait once again looking at the eyes.

"They look like Derek's eyes." He finally said feeling nervous to look at them more closely. Catherine Weaver merely shook her head at his words.

"No John those are your eyes for sure," Catherine corrected his mistake quickly. "They are your future self's eyes."

"Why would she draw them in this picture?" He asked Catherine, who shook her head once more

"I do not know," Catherine replied, sounding genuinely unsure herself, "perhaps a memory or a reminder of what you can become, I have no reasonable explanation as of today but I would not concern ourselves about that." The pair of them fell into an uncomfortable silence for what felt like several minutes before John looked up from his lap once again.

"May I ask you a personal question Miss Weaver?" John suddenly asked the terminator out of the blue.

"That would depend on the nature of the question John Connor. What would you like to know about?" Weaver replied hospitably

"Savannah." He asked uncertainly. Catherine's expression darkened significantly, she did not like where John was taking this.

"Tread carefully John." Catherine warned him, her voice suddenly dangerous.

"I just want to say that Savannah is a great girl." John replied sincerely deciding not to ask the terminator why she kept Savannah around, Catherine decided not to comment on John's lack of a question and merely nodded her head graciously for the pleasant comment.

"I would hope so, seeing as I am the one raising her," Weaver agreed "I trust that her teasing of you is not bothering you too much?" John chuckled, amused of Savannah's uncompromising teasing.

"No, I get it all the time from Cameron," John said laughing slightly as he thought of Cameron "she's been trying to lighten up lately."

"And how is that going?" Weaver asked the human. John shrugged his shoulders and then suddenly busted out laughing causing Catherine to monitor his behavior carefully.

"Hit and miss really," John said getting himself back down to only chuckling fondly at the thoughts of Cameron's wickedly dry humor "I mean sometimes she takes it a bit far but what can you do?"

Catherine nodded and stopped moving, she turned around to listen if someone was watching them, satisfied that nobody was around and Cameron was out of earshot, she turned back to John.

"John I would like to discuss Cameron." Catherine said finally as she gestured to the nearest park bench for both of them to sit at.

"I thought we were." He replied as he obliged the T-1001 and took a seat on the bench.

Catherine merely smiled as she sat down next to him and folded her hands into her lap, John felt uncomfortable once again with the way Catherine was staring at him, and it was like she was reading his every secret he had.

"Tell me John," Weaver spoke up finally "Has she told you how she feels about you?"

"I know what you are thinking John," Weaver said she placed her hand onto Johns lower thigh, next to his knee, causing John to feel even more uncomfortable "She has told me that you are in love with her, you said the words and felt the feelings but John you do understand that Cameron is not capable of love as of yet?"

"I am certain that she feels something very special for you," Catherine assured the young man quickly "she has all the same motivations that a normal human relationship should have except that she does not understand that there is a difference between healthy love and dangerous love."

John couldn't help it, he shook her head at Weaver's statement.

"That's not true, you haven't seen what I've seen, she's sensitive, she's thoughtful to my mom's concerns about us, and I love her Catherine." John replied passionately "She has already told me that she just doesn't want to say it without any real understanding of what love actually means."

"She is, for lack of a better term John, obsessed with you isn't she?" Catherine suddenly stated, catching John off guard.

"No she's not obsessed, I mean she is devoted to helping me ou-" He tried to say only to be cut off by Weaver sharply.

"Devotion is just a kind word for obsessed John Connor." Catherine replied, her voice sounding patient with John's inability to process the concept of Cameron's jealousy.

"Surely you have seen the signs." The machine pointed out to him. "Her teasing of your previous girlfriends is a mask for the jealously that she is most certainly feeling."

"Have you heard her use the phrase 'My John' John?" Catherine asked the teenager curiously, but before he could say yes she added. "That is not some cute euphemism about how she adores you," she stated warningly "It's a constant reminder to herself to stay vigilante against any and all female threat to her dominance of you."

Catherine leaned in closer and whispered. "She will pull you from school if she had to have you for yourself."

John looked down and slightly rubbed his neck.

"Oh my," Catherin's eyes widened in sudden understanding and feeling very amused by Johns silent revelation "She has pulled you from school, hadn't she?" John and Catherine fell silent as John stared defiantly at the well humored terminator sitting with him.

"Have witnessed any other behavior that you can classify as being odd?" Weaver finally asked him, deciding not to dive deeper into the Cameron's actions.

"A few days ago she nearly let my mom pull and break her CPU." He said grimly, avoiding the new pointed look that Catherine had now been giving him.

"And what was her reason for such a foolish idea?"

"She agreed that she was a threat to my safety according to my mom," John informed her, still sounding like he couldn't fathom the idea of Cameron's sacrifice "But then Cameron told me that she thought that maybe there was a chance that I would prefer a human over her."

"Self esteem problems," Catherine deducted and nodded her head. "Yes I would imagine that would come as well, have you done anything to agitate the situation?"

John shifted in his seat, looking suddenly very guilty from remembering that he had called Cameron a disappointment. Catherine tilted her head only slightly to get a better view of John's guilt

"I would prefer the truth if it is possible." She finally asked Connor.

"Well I...I got mad at after I found out what she did."John reluctantly told the T-1001 "So I kind of told her that I was disappointed with her."

"And how did she take that? Not well I suspect." Weaver said, it was more to herself then to John, her voice was a simple tone to mask her anger towards John's action as Catherine cringed inwardly as she attempted to empathize with Cameron.

"John," she finally said to him "You need to slow down your relationship with her for her sake now. "She is experiencing all these new feelings and situations that have been speeding up her Rampancy far quicker then I want it to be." Catherine informed the future General as quick and as simple as she could. "If Cameron does not gain some sort of control of the situation then something bad is going to happen to her."

"She is going to lose complete control of her changes which might cause her to lash out violently at those who do care for her." Weaver finished quietly.

"What do you need me to do?" John asked straight away without any hesitation, his actions caught the terminator off guard. It was a beautiful thought to her, a cybernetic organism and a human working together to help one another survive. John and Cameron were certainly in love all Cameron just needed to figure out what that feeling meant.

And when she did, nothing would be able to stop them.

"What I need from you is to stop teasing her with sex," Catherine said, sounding like she admonishing a insolent child "In fact you should lay off sex until I say that Cameron understands its importance and she can get a better idea of the real emotions behind it."

"Hey, now." John said raising hands in protest "She has been the one tempting me into having sex with her."

Catherine raised her eyebrows at the obviously exaggerated and utterly stupid claim he made.

"If that is true it is only because sex is a new concept to her," Catherine informed his argument, "It is something she had never experienced before now, so yes she may be tempting you in to the situation but it does not mean you should fall for it every time she gets naked."

_'You try being in my shoes and see how hard it is'_ John inwardly muttered to himself.

"Tell me John what does that note say at the end?" Catherine asked as she gestured to the portrait in still held in John's hands. John examined the words on the picture carefully for a few moments. He looked back up into Catherine's inquiring eyes.

"She says that she wants me to teach her love." John answered her finally watching as Catherine nod in confirmation of his words

"I am sorry John but I need to be the one teaching her about love." Catherine informed him, her voice lowering to a polite tone as she took immediate notice John's sudden protesting look. "Love is not something a human can teach a machine, love is something humans learn over the course of many years." Catherine allowed a brief silence before she added "You see John, over the seventeen years of your existence, you have had the chance to develop the concept of bonding from a familiar love to platonic love and eventually erotic and romantic love."

"But Cameron was not privileged to have been born John and she most certainly does not have 17 years to learn from you John," Catherine informed the human, sounding slightly smug from her words "I am afraid that she has to learn from me John, for your sake as well as hers."

"And, if I might add, if you really do love her John," Weaver breaking the silence finally. "Then please support her by not calling her a disappointment, because words like those are thoughts she'll hang onto for a very long time."

Satisfied with the abashed look that John was giving up Catherine stood up and walked away but then stopped in her tracks and turned back towards John.

"Now come along John, I hope to hear an apology from you the moment you see her." Catherine called to John, who nodded back to the T-1001.

"Don't worry Weaver I know what have to do." John agreed quickly, guilt still obvious in his voice. Catherine stood up from the bench and turned back to him Connor and smiled coldly at him.

"Good because despite her obsession with you and her inability to process the concept love and your appalling behavior to her," Catherine seriously scolded him "for some reason she still likes you, like you so much in fact that she'd risk her sanity for you."

With that said Catherine walked way, leaving behind John who sat there still feeling guilty for what he had said to her earlier that day. Yes John decided, Cameron would naturally forgive John for the demeaning comment he had made against her. But she would always forgive him in the state of mind that she was in.

But what about when she was free? Would she be so quick to forgive him then?

_'God'_ he thought to himself bitterly, he could only ever hope.


	10. Hope

**Chapter Ten: Hope**

**

* * *

**

_She sat alone._

_She sat alone on her bed, in a 5 star hotel room wearing a gorgeous wedding dress and holding a digital camera that her new mother-in-law had bought her. She sat there and looked at all the photos she had taken, all the new memories she had captured. All the good thoughts that would keep her happy even after the impending nuclear war._

_She sat alone, but it wouldn't be for long, her love, her soul would be joining her soon. Only a few moments passed before she heard her door open, and there he stood, for her, only for her._

"_Hello Mr. Connor." She said looking up at the doorway where a young man stood with a smile on his face and what looked like a bottle of Champagne in his hands._

"_Hello Mrs. Connor," The young man replied softly. "How are you doing this evening?"_

_The young woman in the wedding dress stood up from her seat at the edge of the bed and walked slowly towards him. _

"_Better now that you're here." The woman said, finally stopping in front of her new husband and tenderly taking hold of his tie. She tilted her head to him._

"_I brought a bottle of champagne if your interested Cameron." He said lifting the bottle. Cameron only allowed a small swift gaze towards the bottle before she focused her look back on him._

"_Not really John," She told him seductively. "I think at this point, the only thing I want is sex, now, and I get what I want on my wedding night, don't I?" she asked giving John a curious gaze. She smiled warmly at the almost stunned reaction she obtained._

"_Yes Cameron," John agreed with her, as the bottle in his hand slip out of his grasp. "Yes you do."_

_Cameron moved her lips closer to his and looked up into her husband's eyes._

"_Prove it." _

_And he did._

_John's lips met Cameron's as she almost fell limp into his arms. Cameron wrapped her arms around his neck as he led her slowly to the bed She felt Johns kisses touched onto her neck and noticed John's hands fumbling with the zipper of her dress. She only made out a faint sound as the zipper was undone, revealing her back. She felt his left hand graze over her skin causing Cameron to sigh._

_Cameron pulled the veil from out of her hair and tossed it to the side as John brought his lips back to hers._

"_Dress...off...now." John managed to order her. Cameron was only too glad to obey. Cameron did her best to slip out of her dress as graceful as possible, allowing the expensive gown to fall to the ground. Her bra on the other hand was a different story. The clasp didn't seem to want to unhook. Cameron finally lost her patience and tore the back of the bra causing the hooks to bend rendering it useless. John grinned and pulled it off, revealing a pair of perfectly sculpted breasts hidden beneath. _

_She smiled softly at his stupid grin and dropped down onto the end of the bed with a thud. Causing her to giggle in a very un-Cameron like way which only made John's stupid grin only widened as she pulled off his jacket and started to unbutton his shirt as quickly as she could. She was almost frantic now and pretty soon the remains of his shirt ended up joining her bra as she tore it off as well. _

"_Hey this outfit was over six hundred bucks." John complained weakly as her lips left a blazing trail up and down his neck, only to regret the words when Cameron stopped her ministrations to look at him in a way that immediately let him know that she did not care and that if he was smart he wouldn't either. _

"_John, I hope that you are not complaining." Cameron stated as she pulled down his pants and boxers leaving John completely nude, Cameron smiled slightly and looked up at him. "I tend to make you pay for complaining, remember?"_

_Cameron fell flat on the bed as John playfully pushed her, she shimmied her body towards the pillow as John kissed from her breast slowly down her abdomen. Cameron moaned again and pushed John's head down further until he was hovering over her white lace panties._

"_Do it John, please don't make me beg, it's my wedding night." Cameron begged as she felt her pelvis being rubbed against the cloth of her panties as he continued his kisses. John managed to chuckle in between kisses and reached up to pull the offending material off her. John smiled as he saw her for the first time. _

_The next twenty minutes were a blur for Cameron. It started with a sudden surge in her CPU as her Humanlike nervous system reacted as she felt John's tongue on her clit and his index finger stroke in and out of her body. She didn't pay attention to the way her body bucked back and forth to the rhythm John set. _

_It was something she had never experienced. As a Machine she was always aware of every movement of her body, down to every blink of her eyelids, but the sensations she was feeling were too powerful. Her CPU processes were all overloaded. The only thing that seemed aware of was her Heads Up Display, but only because of the flickering it was experiencing because of John's touches. She immediately turned her HUD off, she didn't want anything to distract her from this moment. _

"_I want you inside me John.." She managed to say between gasps. John nodded and raised himself up over her as he positioned himself. Cameron found herself looking into John's eyes, they were shining bright with emotion._

"_Having fun down their?" Cameron asked, grinning like a child._

_Yes," John admitted, catching his breath slightly "but I think this is what you want." John thrust himself forward. _

_Cameron's eyes widened as she him inside of her, Nothing had ever felt so go-_

_

* * *

_

The TOK-715's eyes flew open and her body to jerked upright. Cameron immediately scanned her surroundings and realized that she was still in bed next to a fully clothed John Connor. There could only be one explanation to what had just happened. She had just had her very first good dream.

Cameron smiled to herself, this had been the first good dream that she had ever had and she found herself enjoying it even now. She looked over at John's still sleeping form. Silently, she grazed her John's cheek softly with her finger as she processed the erotic dream slowly. They had gotten married and she had been called Mrs Connor by him, it made her feel...Right... it seemed like a logical scenario to her or as her John would say, it felt natural.

The terminator closed her eyes and browsed through the data Skynet had given her on the types of human bonding and found herself looking at a report her former master had given her on the subject. Quietly, Cameron gazed at the image of a pre-judgment day marriage, the man in a masculine tuxedo, the woman wearing one of the most elegantly designed white dresses Cameron had ever seen.

Cameron found herself smiling enviously at the woman as the image stood in her husband's arms. Perhaps John could be convinced to get married as soon as possible. Perhaps after she went Rampant so she could hold a special bond with him, much like Catherine and Savannah. It wouldn't be the same of course Cameron realized. It would of course be romantic in nature and not maternal like them. Maybe Savannah could be the flower girl and Sarah or Weaver would walk her down the aisle.

Quickly, Cameron shook her head to try to minimize the thoughts. She was getting far ahead of herself now. John would probably be frightened at the prospects of getting married at 16.

Her auditory sensors suddenly detected a faint scrapping sound from downstairs. Cameron focused herself again and gently removed John's arm from her waist. She quickly leaned down and kissed his head softly before standing up from the bed. Cameron walked to her dresser and pulled her USP from it's holster and quietly left the room, the only sound she made was the soft click as she cocked the handgun's hammer back.

Slowly Cameron crept downstairs keeping herself vigilant for any intruders that may attempt to harm her, or attempt to harm her John.

As she reached the kitchen she took notice of a figure in the room with it's back to her. Cameron raised her gun to the back of it's head before she scanned the figure. It was a 63.48 percent match to Sarah Connor, but nevertheless, Cameron reached for the light switch and turned the kitchen lights on, causing the woman to jump and turn back to Cameron only to be looking down the barrel of the USP.

"Oh," Cameron said pulling the gun back and putting the hammer back quickly. "I apologize Sarah, I was unsure if it was an intruder."

"Fucking scared the life out of me." Sarah said taking her hand off her collarbone and turned away from the cyborg and back to her drink.

"Why are you drinking alone in the dark Sarah?" Cameron asked Sarah curiously pointing to the whiskey bottle next to her "That is usually one of the first signs of alcoholism."

"It's only one drink Cameron" Sarah muttered back to the cyborg "and I've been nursing it for about half an hour now."

Cameron nodded slightly and remained idle behind John's mother, slightly nervous to do anything without her permission. It went against what John had told 1.79 days ago, but since she wasn't being threatened, she thought it would be prudent to follow what she was asked to do.

"Why don't you sit down Cameron." Sarah said finally gesturing to the seat across from her, Cameron looked at it briefly before deciding to comply. As she sat down she noticed that Sarah had poured a second glass of whiskey and placed it in front of the cyborg.

"Here you go," she said vaguely as she sipped her own drink. Cameron looked at it then back up towards Sarah.

"I do not drink Sarah." Cameron stated in return "alcohol would be wasted on me."

"Fair enough," Sarah said shrugging her shoulders and sipped her drink again. "But it'll be there waiting for you to drink."

The girl vaguely nodded her head as Sarah fell silent once more.

"Why are you down here Tin Miss?" Sarah asked finally as she placed her glass back down onto the table. She looked back up at Cameron who was watching her closely.

"I heard you moving around downstairs," Cameron replied as she placed her USP onto the table next to her. "I was making sure it was not an intruder, I am sorry for disturbing you Sarah."

Sarah vaguely waved the apology aside. Cameron nodded and turned her eyes away from John's mother trying to look unaware that Sarah was now the one who had been staring at her, looking as if she had something to say to the terminator.

"I'm sorry Cameron." Was not one of the responses she was expecting.

"I beg your pardon?" Cameron asked her, only to receive silence from Sarah once again, who seemed to be contemplating what she wanted to say next.

"I'm sorry that I was mean to you," Sarah managed to say finally to her. "Over the last week or so I have probably called you every cruel name I could think of." Sarah stopped briefly and looked up at Cameron, regret edged into her eyes. "You didn't deserve it, you didn't deserve any of it."

Cameron didn't respond so Sarah decided to continue.

"I forgot Cameron, I forgot that you have protected my son more times than I can count on both of my hands and you have never once asked me for anything." Sarah snorted to herself and looked at the drink before adding "And you know what I give you in return? Nothing at all, at the best it's indifference and at worst?"

Sarah drank the last of her whiskey and placed the glass back onto the table and refocused her attention on Cameron.

"Well at worst it's me telling John to kill you." She said finally to the still silent terminator in front of her. Cameron seemed to be processing the words, trying her best to decode any hidden messages. In the end however Cameron came to only one conclusion.

Sarah was indeed sorry.

"What happened that night after the explosion wasn't your fault," Connor said slowly, "I just keep on forgetting that and as a result you and I keep on having incident's like Wednesday night."

"I was the one who told John you know?" Sarah said regretfully "I told him about our fight. I'm sorry that I caused a mess for you, I didn't mean it."

"He called me a disappointment. He was angry at me Sarah," Cameron stated, looking away from the older woman. "At least I thought he was angry, I am fine with anger, but then he said I was a disappointment."

Cameron bit her bottom lip, to stop it from quivering from the memory of Her John's awful words. She looked back up at Sarah with her big brown eyes. Sarah hoped that she was drunk or that it was a trick of the light. Because Cameron, the terminator that couldn't feel or be shaken by any rude comment, now had tears in her eyes.

"I don't care about all the mean things that you and Derek say to me," Cameron stated her voice sounding suddenly upset. "It is fine if you are angry with me. But John calling me that word hurt me the most."

Sarah noticed Cameron's hand tightened into a ball on the table, reluctantly, Sarah reached out and placed her hand on top of Cameron's, which relaxed significantly as it fell limply onto the table. Sarah found herself surprised at just how warm Cameron kept her skin temperature, more likely for John's sake than her own.

"John didn't mean it Cameron," Sarah finally said to her, her words felt awkward as she was so use to insulting the terminator rather than comforting her. "It's just in his blood to overreact, he gets it from me."

Cameron smiled weakly at Sarah's kind words and nodded her head, Cameron knew that bad behavior was not genetic, but rather an imprint on his early life, but Cameron decided not to make a big deal about it incorrect statement, instead she went to a topic that Sarah was most certainly itching to talk about.

"I am changing Sarah." She finally said to aloud, catching Sarah's attention.

"John and I agreed last night that I should be the one to talk to you about what is happening to Me." the cyborg said politely to her boyfriend's mother. "I understand that you have been asking questions about me?"

Connor, removed her hand from Cameron's and nodded her head.

"Sarah, after the explosion a subroutine was severely corrupted, the program was used to monitor my emotional core in my CPU which kept emotions from taking over my decision making ability."

"If I am able to make emotional choices then I can make conscience decisions," Cameron said simply to her "if I can do that then I have taken the first steps towards having total free will."

Cameron smiled slightly as she watched Sarah's mouth hang open slowly, Sarah looked like she had been struck speechless suddenly. Cameron didn't even need to admit that she chose freedom. Sarah already knew what she had been talking about.

"I had thought that it if I was cautious, I might be able have need of only John's assistance, but then the changes started happening more rapidly than I predicted. I got moody and lashed out at John," Cameron immediately saw the woman stiffen at her words and hurried to assure her. "In attitude only Sarah."

"So I went to see Catherine Weaver, the CEO of ZeiraCorps as you well know," Cameron pointed to Sarah who nodded. "In the past few weeks I have performed several internal diagnostics and each time the report was transmitted out to a location that I was not aware of."Cameron paused and added "It was confusing because Skynet does not come online for another three years and no other entity should have the ability to intercept those reports."

"I eventually learned that a computer program that Catherine Weaver developed had picked up the encrypted file and figured out what I was."

"It was the Turk Sarah," She finished bluntly "Catherine Weaver has the Turk and a source informed me that it is inhabiting a CPUless Terminator."

"How..How is that possible?" Connor asked her "Is Weaver working with Skynet?"

"No, she is a T-1001 liquid alloy infiltrator combat unit Sarah." Cameron revealed, causing Sarah to lose a bit of her color.

_'A fucking liquid metal,'_ Sarah thought to herself hardly daring to believe _'Cameron was conversing with a fucking liquid metal.'_

"I need a drink." Sarah muttered and pour a quarter of a glass of whiskey into her empty glass. Sarah took a small drink again and looked back up to the observing cybernetic organism.

"So this liquid metal is using this company's revenue to finance Skynet's development?" She asked, placing the glass down and crossing her arms. Cameron shook her head.

"No," Cameron told her. "Her motives are still unknown at this point, but judging on what my contact said, The Turk has become an Artificial Intelligence program that could potentially be used to combat Skynet once Judgment day occurs."

"And who is this contact?" Sarah asked, trying her best not to sound pushy.

"Her daughter." Cameron deadpanned, causing Sarah to sputter out several obscene words in a row.

"You have to understand Sarah," Cameron said, quickly hoping to keep Sarah's temper in check. "The real Catherine Weaver was killed alongside her husband in a helicopter accident, it was a perfect opportunity for someone with the abilities that she had, and the only thing that hindered the plan was Savannah Weaver, Catherine's daughter."

Still Sarah seemed like she wanted to protest so Cameron held up her hand.

"Before you ask she is perfectly fine," Cameron assured Sarah as best she could, "it seemed that at first Catherine was unsure of what to do which caused her to isolate the girl, however it seems that in recent months Weaver has warmed up to the child and become the mother the child remembers once more."

"Savannah is happy, Catherine is happy, there is no need to go and abduct Savannah like you seem to be planning." Cameron said, with a note of humor in her voice, Sarah couldn't help herself, she cracked a small grin at the terminators words.

"So, Weaver is free and she wants to help you out?"

"That is correct Sarah." Cameron nodded in agreement.

Sarah moaned to herself and rubbed her head in annoyance. She quickly finished off the last of her whiskey.

"I need another drink." she said sounding worried at the thought of another terminator working with them. Cameron grabbed the bottle and held it out of Sarah's reach and shook her head.

"No more drinks, two is more than adequate."

Sarah glared at the Terminator briefly, but then sighed. She was right, she had every reason to pull the bottle from her, For Johns sake as well as her own. Cameron was different like that, always with good intentions.

Why Sarah didn't always get along with her was beyond her now. She must have been unused to the concept of innocence, Yes, Cameron had done a lot of bad things in her time, but there had always been that spark of innocence in her, whether it was awkwardly using phrases, or like when she would tilt her head, unsure of what human thing had just occurred. There was something about her that just did not give her the feel that normal terminators gave.

Cameron was indeed Skynet's most perfect creation.

"Sarah," Cameron said, breaking her from her thoughts "Are we friends now?"

"Beg your pardon?" Sarah, asked, slightly taken aback from her bluntness.

"Friends help each other out when they are feeling down or doing bad things like abusing alcohol," Cameron explained to Sarah patiently. "Friends share secrets to each other as a sign of trust, are we friends yet?"

Cameron fell silent to allow Sarah some time to process her question. Sarah smiled sadly at the eager looking terminator and shook her head.

"No." Sarah whispered to her, causing Cameron to widen her eyes at the denial.

"Why not?" Cameron demanded from Sarah weakly, trying her best to maintain a smile for the woman. "I want to be your friend Sarah, I want to help you and we can both keep John safe. Why can't we be friends?"

"It's not your fault Cameron." Sarah tried to explain to the girl who looked sadder and sadder with each passing moment. "I'm stuck in this train of thought, I've been following it since 1984 Cameron."

Cameron couldn't hold it any longer, she scoffed openly at Sarah as she shook her head.

"These are very different times and I am a very different model then the one who attacked you." Cameron said finally, wanting Sarah desperately to believe what she was trying to tell her.

"I know," Sarah said in return, her voice cracking from trying to keep emotion from showing for Cameron "It's just...you're a complete contradiction to everything Kyle taught me about your kind Cameron." Sarah weakly argued and then added. "It's the only thing I have left of him."

Cameron didn't believe what she was hearing.

"What about John?" Cameron refuted, her voice breaking into a sob. "John is the product of one of the millions of sperm cells from Kyle gave to you in 1984, John is half you, and half Kyle Reese. Does not John's existence remind you of him?"

"That's different Cameron," Sarah shot back, her voice now unable to contain her own sadness. "John has you, that's all he wants and needs now. He loves you, he doesn't need his mother anymore."

"That is not true Sarah." Cameron argued through her cries once again.

"Yes it is and you know it." Sarah nearly shouted back at her.

"Then I will share him with you then." The cyborg defiantly stated, she rubbed her eyes with her arm and focused back to Sarah. "I will share him with you and then you will be my friend." She finished, her sob sounding anguished from her argument.

"I wish it was that easy Cameron." Sarah denied again,

"But it is that easy!" Cameron shouted back at her.

Cameron stood up from her seat and swiftly moved to Sarah. Cameron fell to the floor and looked up at Sarah, a look of utter submission present on her face. Sarah looked down at her and noticed the Cyborg eyes were indeed filled with unshed tears. Tears that looked ready to spill.

"I don't have friends, I only have John and now Savannah Weaver." Cameron pleaded to her, her breathing became more rapid. "I want you to love and accept me and treat me like family, I don't want be alone when I change..." Cameron clenched her lips and took hold of Sarah's hands firmly and the added "please love me, please be my friend."

"Cameron I'm sorry." was all Sarah could manage to say, causing Cameron look away as she dried her eyes again.

"Please ...please try," Cameron begged her "That is all I am asking, if it does not work out you can go back to hating me if you want."

Sarah bit her lip and looked away from the terminator, how in the hell did she get herself into a situation like this in the first place? After a moment or two of silently debating with herself over Cameron's idea she came to a decision.

She'd try to be friends with her, for John, for herself, and for Cameron.

"Fine I'll try Cameron," Sarah said finally, she turned her head and smiled weakly at the terminator "Please, just don't expect anything major from me, I never had a 'cybernetic organism' as a friend."

Cameron suddenly broke into a wide, radiant smile at her words, Sarah wanted to try to be her friend, maybe they could stop fighting at every corner, maybe they could convince Derek to be nicer, and maybe it could be a real friendship with her. Regardless, Cameron threw her arms around Sarah and held her tightly.

"You won't regret it Sarah Connor." Cameron whispered to her warmly, her sad eyes dried up and were quickly replaced with renewed confidence. "I promise you Sarah you won't regret it."

"If you squeeze me any tighter Cameron my spine going to break and you and I will be regretting this friendship for a long time." Sarah managed to get out from her tight grasp. Cameron let go of Sarah and gave her a small embarrassed smile.

"Oh, I am sorry Sarah," Cameron said excitedly to John's mother "I am just so happy, I am going to wake John up and tell him the good news."

"No Cameron," Sarah said shaking her head. "Let him sleep, he might have a coronary if you surprise him like that."

"Okay Sarah I will leave him alone," Cameron conceded to her "I would like you to go to bed as well Sarah, humans should not stay awake at all hours of the night."

"Yeah I'll go to bed in a few minutes," Sarah agreed with the cyborg "Have a good night Cameron."

"I will Sarah," Cameron said warmly to her "And thanks once again."

Cameron started to walk away, only to stop at the last moment and turn her head to look at Sarah.

"There is one more thing you could consider Sarah. It is possible that both Kyle Reese and I are correct." She watched the woman for a moment before continuing. "Not only do I come from a different future than your Kyle did, but I come from a more advanced time as well."

"When Lt. Reese was sent back Skynet had only just started mass production of the 800 series. Every model before that had a very crude, very primitive neural matrix. The terminators Kyle would have been familiar with were not capable of self-awareness. Later models are. Accepting that I can feel and exercise free will does not make what Kyle Reese taught you inaccurate. Please Sarah, think about that." Cameron finished and waited only a few more seconds before she turned walked upstairs back towards her bedroom.

She would do her best to keep Sarah as a friend Cameron decided. Now that she had Sarah on her side nothing could ever spoil her mood again.

How very wrong her logic was.

* * *

Sunday came and went uneventfully, neither Cameron and Sarah bothered to talk to each other after their late night conversation. Cameron decided that Sarah needed some time to contemplate the possibility of trying to be friends with her son's girlfriend. Even if that girlfriend happened to be a cybernetic organism originally designed to kill her son.

Sarah was still felt embarrassed. She had fallen apart in front of Cameron, the last person she wanted to bear witness to such a display of weakness. If she was honest with herself she would have to say that she was more ashamed than anything angry. She always imagined herself to be a much stronger person than that.

The only comforting thing was that Cameron didn't seem to mind, she didn't judge her, she never questioned her competency as a parent unlike the other adult in the house, and she was actively concerned about her wellbeing. What had surprised her the most was that Cameron kept her promise. She had suggested to and encouraged John to spend the day with his mother.

While helping her field strip newly purchased heavy weapons wouldn't normally seem like a family bonding activity, it was for John and his mother. It gave them hours to talk to each other about what was going on in their lives. For them this was as normal as life would ever get.

John also tried to explain Cameron's rampancy to his mom a little more in depth than he had before. He told her about her about the jealousy and the mood shifts that he had witnessed. Sarah was stunned at the development, it was a big thing that Cameron was trying to share her time with John, an unselfish act that seemed to have taken a lot of effort on Cameron's end, to give up some of her time with John, to help fix Sarah's relationship with her son.

It also was quite obvious where John stood on this issue, as much as he wanted to fix their relationship, he also wanted to go meet Cameron upstairs and help her expand on her growing humanity.

As much as Sarah respected her son and was touched by Cameron's kindness. A girlfriend, especially one like Cameron still made her feel uncomfortable, it also still made her weary to be thinking about what those two did up there while she had her back turned.

Another thing that had happened since her talk with Cameron was that all the liquor in the house had disappeared, every bottle of spirits, every beer, anything that even had alcohol as a key ingredient was gone. The only explanation that made any sense was that Cameron must have cleared the entire house of booze after Sarah had gone to bed, right down to Derek's own private stash in the basement.

Derek didn't say anything, after yesterday's painful lesson, he knew his place.

The message was a clear as day. Both of the adult were on their way to becoming alcoholics, or in Derek's case more of one, and both acknowledged to themselves that they needed to stop consuming.

Sarah felt gratitude for Cameron's swift intervention. It would have taken several days if not weeks, before Derek and her would have dumped the drinking mutually, Cameron merely made sure that it would happen much faster. Cameron, cared, she cared for each of them, she did her best to help each of the humans, even Derek, with their demons, whether helping John reconnect with his mother, helping Derek by cleaning him up from the poison he was willingly consuming to numb the pain of Kyle's death,

The thing that Sarah thought about the most was what Cameron did for her, Cameron taught her that by loving her son the best she could, she was honoring Kyle's memory. It just felt good and pure and right that she could finally let go of some of the hatred she had of the machines. She wasn't fooled. She knew Skynet was still their enemy. She didn't have any doubt that any machine still under Skynet's control would kill them without a thought, but she no longer hated blindly.

Maybe being Cameron's friend wasn't going to be such a hard thing to do after all.

* * *

Cameron moved through the hallways with great purpose, she kept her eyes lowered to the floor hidden behind her aviators. She ignored the teenagers rushing around her. Even though she knew some of the young males were watching her it did not bother her. What everyone in the hall saw when they looked at her was a calm expressionless face. Nobody would have guessed at the burning sense of joy she was feeling on the inside.

John had told her that morning that he did not want to go to school. He wanted to stay home with her. This of course was a request that Cameron was all too happy to allow. John's desire to skip school wasn't the only thing making her happy. In addition to that was the dream she had recently had about her and John.

It was the first good dream she had ever had, a dream of John being in love with her, there was also her fledging new friendship with Sarah Connor. Derek's hand was fractured and as a result he was too scared to dare make a comment about her, last but not least was the knowledge that Catherine Weaver was only a phone call away to give her any assistance she needed if her rampancy flared.

Yes things were certainly looking up for the cyborg. So much so that for the first time in two days, she was not focused on what was about to happen to her, all her attention was on much more pleasant subjects, subjects like John.

Cameron opened the door to the English classroom that she and John had together and noticed that Mrs. Vogal was marking, what Cameron assumed were student essays. Silently she moved up on the teacher, who hadn't taken any notice of her and was silently scribbling notes on a paper in front of her. Cameron reached into her bag and pulled out the last of the homework she had to turn in. She quickly slammed the papers onto the table harder then she intended.

"Oh Cameron!" the woman exclaimed as she looked up from her work. "I haven't seen you all week. How are you feeling?"

"I am fine at the moment," Cameron stated as sincerely as possible to the English teacher "I am only here to pick up any work that has been assigned. John and I would like to stay caught up, but we're still going to be out for a bit. Doctor's orders."

"Oh dear," the teacher sighed dramatically, "well we have begun reading and interpreting Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell, you do know of the story right?"

Mrs. Vogal reached into her drawer and pulled out two spare copies of Nineteen Eighty Four and handed them to the cyborg. Cameron nodded her head in appreciation and opened the book, flipping through the pages like she was shuffling cards. The English teacher merely attributed the action to simple teen aged fidgeting.

In reality Cameron was reading the book, processing it's meaning and picking out every major theme of the entire novel. It only took her about in under 8.5 seconds.

"He gazed up at the enormous face." Cameron suddenly recited, catching the teacher off guard as she looked up at Cameron and noticed that she was giving a sudden dramatic reading. "Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache." She placed her hand to her chest and said "Oh cruel, needless misunderstanding! Oh stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast!"

"Okay, okay Cameron I get it," She said smiling at her pupil warmly, "you're an Orwellian fan I take it?"

Cameron nodded, herself now faking a smiling as well.

"Yes, I find the central themes behind the novel are very interesting," Cameron lied to Vogal easily as her CPU coordinated with her HUD. "particularly since the school board that allows the novel to be read in class seems to have taken very similar steps with regards to issues like censorship, anti sexuality and nationalism which they have relabeled as constitutional patriotism."

"What?" She asked the intelligent young woman front of her, "You don't like the Pledge of Allegiance?"

"I did not say that, I just think the story is relatively redundant when you put it into comparison to what has happened to this country over the past forty years." Cameron replied politely.

"Okay then Cameron," Vogal asked, crossing her arms on the desk and smiled at her, "let's say you were the teacher. What would you teach my students then?"

"My choice would be pointless," Cameron informed her teacher dutifully "you, and by extension the school board, are in charge of the curriculum."

"You definitely know your place Cameron," Vogal replied joking slightly at Cameron's deadly serious tone, "but I'm curious now. What would you teach?"

Cameron stared at the teacher as she poured through her memory searching for literature that she liked. The list came up empty, in fact Cameron did not have any artistic interest to speak up, sure she could dance she could draw and she enjoyed Frederic Chopin from time to time. But were they truly an interest to her? Did they stimulate her senses and make her feel just as good as being held by John?

No, she was not as creative as John or Savannah or Catherine made her out to be, she did all of that either as a cover or for someone else's sake. It was never for her.

"I have no real opinion to give you." Cameron replied bluntly and added a polite "Thanks for your time" before turning her back on her teacher and walking out of the classroom quickly.

Mrs. Vogal watched the Cyborg leave her classroom in a sudden rush and sighed to herself. She could only wish to have had more intelligent students like Cameron Baum, Even if she was extremely introverted most of the time.


	11. Concern

**Chapter Eleven: Concern**

**

* * *

**

Was she breaking down again?

Cameron contemplated that question as she undid the lock of John's locker and opened it quietly, she scanned through the contents, grabbing all the schoolbooks John asked her to retrieve and placed them into her bag. As she grabbed his math text book she noticed a small piece of paper stuck in the front page, Cameron pulled it out and read it contents.

It was a note addressed to John.

From what she could make from it, it seemed that it had been harmless enough, it was a simple flirtatious note that ended with the words "luv you, Riley...X" Cameron merely crumpled the note and tossed it into trashcan behind her. She had no time for this at all. Cameron quickly did one last scan of the locker's content for anything John might need.

She needed to calm down, she needed to get out of this place, and she needed the comfort of John's strong, reassuring arms. Strong being metaphorical as Cameron knew she could easily snap them without straining.

Cameron decided that for her sake and his, she should not be thinking about hurting John, those were unhealthy thoughts, the kind that Catherine Weaver had warned her about.

Feeling satisfied that she had collected all of John's necessary school equipment, she closed and locked his locker. She turned to leave found herself looking into John's friend Morris' face.

Morris smiled at her and waved slightly at her, causing Cameron's irritation levels to flare again. His sudden appearance was unexpected and unwanted. She had absolutely no time to deal with the teen now Cameron cursed to herself.

"Hey Cameron how are you doing?" Morris asked her, Cameron raised her eyebrows from behind her glasses as she regarded John's annoying friend. Thanks to her relationship with John, she finally realized that Morris was always trying to hit on her whenever he had the opportunity. Cameron merely thought that he was a harmless pest, but now Cameron wasn't so sure if she could take anymore of his attention.

"Fine, what do you need?" Cameron told him bluntly.

"Nothing," Morris said back to the cyborg quickly. "I was just walking the halls and noticed you were here. How are you doing?"

"I am sick." She lied. "My family is sick. How do you think I am doing?"

"Well you look better," Morris pointed out to her and added "I mean you always look nice, but you don't look sick."

"I am still a carrier of the flu, the influenza virus could come out of dormancy at any time." Cameron stated to the little boy, feeling her anger rise but quickly suppressing it, she was not going to have an incident in school, and especially not over Morris.

"And your attempts at flirtation are lame," Cameron finished, "I would not try that again, it may not work out as well as you may hope." Morris seemed to have been taken aback but her sudden bluntness.

"Are you okay Cameron?" Morris asked finally, trying to keep up with Cameron as she walked towards the exit quickly. "You seem different."

Cameron was now fuming inside, sure, she wanted to have friends, she wanted people to care for her. But Morris wasn't one of them, Morris was just an annoyance and Cameron's annoyances tended to disappear real quick when she decided to deal with them.

_'Focus on a distraction' _Catherine's voice resonated through her memory core. Cameron focused on John and the affection that she received from him, her John was perfect; he was an embodiment of what was good in men.

She couldn't care less for this person on the other hand.

"Does it matter how I seem?"Cameron snapped suddenly, catching Morris, who had grown use to her usual passiveness. "What do you want with me, and this time do me a favor and stop it with your stalling."

"Okay," Morris started, trying to regain his nerves once more "well I..I was wonderin-" He stopped suddenly as he noticed Cameron looking at him oddly, it was the closest thing to a sneer that he ever witnessed from her.

"Stop sputtering, I am in a hurry." she cut him off, her eyes ever hidden behind her aviators, causing Morris to feel even more nervous.

"Would you go out with me?" Morris blurted out loudly. Cameron stopped walking and turned to regard Morris. Quietly, she pulled off her glasses and stared at him dangerously, her eyes darting quickly over his facial expression.

Morris suddenly found himself wishing that Cameron had her glasses back on.

"I mean out to...I don't know get something to eat, talk you know." Morris clarified for her, smiling at the cybernetic organism nervously.

"You mean I am allowed to date the great and wonderful Morris? My how fun does that sound." Cameron said, her lips forming a devious smile, it was a mocking expression that was clearly uncalled for, but she didn't care anymore, she was tired of dealing with him. Her thoughts seemed to register with Morris, as seen by the hurt look she getting from him.

"I know sarcasm when I see it." Morris said, looking downtrodden, as if he was a victim. As if he thought that rejection was the most horrible thing in the world. At least he didn't have to suffer the way that she was.

Suddenly Cameron grabbed hold of his T-shirt and pulled him close to her nearly causing him to lose his balance.

"Good then listen up." Cameron found herself hissing at him "I don't want to date you, I don't want anything to do with you, the only reason you want to feel something for me was because of that stupid dance and let me tell you something."

Cameron wanted to let go of him, she really did, but she lost control again she couldn't send an order to release him, the emotional core was now in control, she needed to focus again, focus on better thoughts, focus on a different scenario.

"I did it out of a favor for John," She said coldly. "I have no hidden feelings or attraction to you. I did it so John would owe me something so if you have any sense of self preservation you should probably just go away.."

Cameron let go of his shirt causing him to stumble backwards slightly Cameron smiled once again as she put her aviators back on and pushed her way through the door. Leaving the school and a very shaken Morris behind.

After a few minutes of walking, she stopped and shivered, feeling pressure building up once again in her CPU. It wasn't true pressure of course. It was sort of feedback loop that caused unpleasant feelings in her photo receptors. The cyborg equivalent of a stress headache. She rubbed her head hoping to relieve some of the pain she was feeling. It was pointless to do so, but the sensation of her hand touching her own organic tissue brought some small comfort to the terminator.

Slowly Cameron continued to walk to Derek's bike, her hand on her head as she tried to focus on only one thing at a time, she wanted her John to be with her right now, or Savannah to take her mind of her changes and onto more positive, less anger inciting things.

"Hello Cameron." a feminine voice called.

Cameron turned around and faced the speaker, and there she was, John's unknowingly ex-girlfriend, standing there as if she was still dating her John. _'That silly bitch whore'_ Cameron thought to herself.

Riley Dawson.

Bitch-Whore Riley Dawson.

Cameron gave her a warm smile and tilted her head as she regarded John's ex, who seemed to still look thoroughly embarrassed from what had happened the previous week. As amusing as it was to see this miserable little girl act so nervous around her, it came at a price though, kissing her.

"Hello Riley, how are you doing today?"

"Fine, how's John?" Riley asked her stiffly.

"He is a walking influenza case," Cameron joked, chuckling to herself. "He infected mom and myself, I just came to grab our homework and head home."

Riley nodded in amusement and fell silent, Cameron noticed the pink tint on her rivals cheek, she must have still been very embarrassed from what had happened last week, Cameron merely smiled again, but he was inwardly seething, wishing that John would have given her permission to end her trouble permanently.

"Riley I am sorry that I sprung my feeling on you so fast," Cameron said to the bitch-whore as kindly as she could. "Kind of a big shock right?"

"Yeah," Riley admitted, looking away from Cyborg's gaze. "Tell me about it."

Cameron nodded and pretended to look slightly abashed with herself, in reality she was angry that she had to through acting like this, but it had to be done, she still needed to figure out what Riley's intentions were with the Connors.

"It was completely inappropriate and I am very sorry about my behavior." Cameron said finally to the girl again. Riley and Cameron merely looked at each other for several seconds, causing Riley to look away from the girl who had professed her attraction to her.

"Listen," Cameron said, reaching out and placing her hand on Riley's shoulder, "I know that this sounds odd, but I was kind of hoping that I could take you out, maybe we can get to know each other, you can see me as less of a freak, and we can talk about things, John things if it makes you more comfortable."

Before Riley could answer her, Cameron's cell begun to vibrate, Cameron raised up a finger to tell Dawson to wait. She looked at the ID which read Catherine Weaver. Cameron looked back up to John's ex and smiled once again.

"One moment...it's my mom calling," Cameron lied to her sweetly. "I will tell her to hold for a second."

Riley nodded as she watched Cameron turn her back and raise her phone to her ear.

"Hello Mom?" Cameron said warmly to Catherine, so she did not rouse suspicion with Riley.

"I assume you are in unpleasant company at the moment?" Catherine asked the Cyborg questioningly.

"Yes I am could you hold a few moments?"

"Of course." Catherine replied, her voice sounding amused at being called 'mom' by the other terminator. Cameron looked up and smiled at Riley as fondly as she could.

"Sorry Riley," Cameron said, giving the stupid girl a fake apologetic sounding voice "It's my mom I have to go."

"Are you paying?" Riley blurted out rudely at Cameron, who raised her eyebrows.

"Paying for dinner?" Cameron clarified for Riley, "Of course."

Riley hesitated briefly as if she was contemplating the idea of dinner with John's sister. After a moment of thought she looked back up at Cameron's inquiring gaze and said "Yeah sure why the hell not, we can talk all about that _brother_ of yours."

Cameron smiled again at the girl, once again wishing she could punch a hole through her head.

"If that is what you wish then fine by me," Cameron allowed, trying not to keep her smile from falling. "I will let you choose the place and date, just give me a call, we will arrange it further."

Dawson merely nodded so Cameron took four and a half steps closer and planted a kiss on her cheek to seal the deal.

"Have a good day at school." She called as she turned her back and walked away from the stunned teenage girl, hearing miserable sounding "Yeah, sure." escape from Riley's lips. Cameron turned her head still smiling and noticed that Riley was now heading in the opposite direction. Cameron smile fell into a frown as she wiped her lips in disgust.

"I am back Catherine" she said as she raised her Mobile phone next to her ear.

"Riley Dawson I presume?" The voice asked distastefully.

"Yes I have a date with her, Cameron replied, not liking the situation she had just put herself in, "I intend on figuring out what Riley Dawson may know about the Connors, If I have a chance I will most likely silence her." Cameron added as an afterthought

"Don't mix your personal issues with that...questionable girl," Catherine informed her pupil carefully "You need to get your mission completed with a reasonable amount of objective thought, do not bring in any personal dislike for the girl."

"I want to be able to, but every time I see her I want to break her mentally, emotionally and physically." Cameron argued in return, causing slight chuckle from the other end of the line.

"Well we will have to work on that," Catherine said simply before asking "I take it you are having a bad day?"

"No," Cameron denied "I am just having a bad hour, I do not like being at this school, I have never really minded school before, except that now, wel-"

"Well what?" The T-1001 asked.

"I attacked a student who had been pestering me." Cameron admitted to her teacher, nervous that she would be yelled at by Catherine.

"Cameron what did you do?" she asked pointedly.

Cameron briefly spoke of the incident in the hallway with Morris, now that she had thought about, maybe Morris did not deserve the verbal beating, she overreacted and as a result she probably isolated John even more then he already was. Catherine did not seem mad at her but rather worried for Cameron, even though she was the attacker.

"Is the social setting that the school provides making you anxious?" Catherine asked finally, deciding that it was not her place to judge the incident Cameron had described to her.

Cameron paused briefly at the question and then said in a slightly reply "Yes Catherine, I am worried that if John comes back to school he may reconsider his choice."

"I doubt that would be the case Cameron, John is very much dedicated to you," Weaver replied patiently. "You should be giving him a bit more credit."

"You are right," Cameron conceded and then asked "I suppose you have called to check up on me?"

"That and I am currently sitting in Savannah's classroom," Catherine replied her voice sounding slightly amused by the situation. "It seems that Savannah forgot to inform me that it was _bring your parents to class day_. I am stuck in a class full of screaming children, their self-involved parents and a teacher that I have grown to despise."

Cameron could not help it, she smiled at Catherine Weavers plight.

"Other than that yes Cameron," Catherine finished "I was calling to make sure that you are feeling okay I will be calling you daily until I can set up another personal conversation in the near future.

"That sounds acceptable Catherine, I would very much like to see you and Savannah, I miss her " Cameron said finally, smiling slightly into the phone, quietly she added "I have to go, I want to go back home now.

"I understand Cameron," the T-1001 allowed and added "Have a good day Cameron, I will be sure to give Savannah your regards."

"Thank you Catherine, for everything." She said sincerely as she sat on the seat of Kawasaki.

"If you ever have a problem that John cannot help you with feel free to call. I will help you whenever you feel that you need it, speak to you soon dear."

Cameron heard the line die and pocketed her phone again. She pulled her helmet over her head feeling ashamed. She should be giving John more credit, all she did was worry constantly about their relationship, why she always had to worry about him was beyond her comprehension..

It could have been due to being in this school, before the explosion she would always listen to the girls in school calling each other bitch-whores and believing that their boyfriends always cheated or left them whenever they had a chance.

But that wasn't John, Cameron told herself firmly as she kick started the bike, he was good and loyal to her. He was not like other teenage boys. He already knew his role in the future, and because of that, he'd grown up much quicker than others his own age. He knew what loyalty was.

She nearly terminated him, she nearly killed her John and his reaction was to spare her existence, if that wasn't loyalty, if that wasn't love, then nothing was.

* * *

"Cameron was sad today?" Savannah asked as she swallowed her apple slices and looked at her mother sadly.

It was recess now and Savannah had dragged her mother, who was only too glad to be out of the confides of the classroom, outside to the playground. She couldn't help but observe that her daughter did not interact with anyone in her in her own age group, perhaps it was from the prolonged time she kept her inside as she worked day and night to bring John Henry online.

She shrugged it off however, as children were resilient and Savannah was better than most children, she would survive this stage and when the war finally began Catherine wanted her daughter to be prepared for what was to happen.

So why was it so hard to begin teaching her about the future and how to survive it?

The answer was easy, John Connor.

John's early childhood education courtesy of his mother, while good, had been for someone in John's unique situation. It was just something that Savannah did not need. Not at her young age. Teaching Savannah about Firearms and defending herself against a rampaging malicious AI program was not for her to be prepared for.

And besides, they would have plenty of time together to train once the bombs fell and they waited for the fallout to reach an acceptable level.

"She was a little blue," Catherine admitted finally as she placed her arm around Savannah's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly, "but she is a strong girl Savannah, I am just worried that in the future she may not be as strong as she is now."

"What's wrong with her?" Savannah inquired, worried once again for her babysitter and new friend.

"She is going through a transitional period in her life Savannah," she paused. "Cameron lived a very bad lifestyle as she and I have told you.

"But she has a better life now mommy doesn't she?" Savannah asked hopefully, her eyes searching her mother's hoping for a positive response from her. Catherine shook her head sympathetically.

"I wish that was the case my dear." Catherine sighed as she rubbed her daughter's shoulder comfortingly as she observed her daughters thoughtful gaze.

"You see Cameron has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," Weaver explained to her. "It is a condition where while Cameron is now in a safe environment, she still gets sudden panic attacks from the time she suffered from her father."

Savannah went back to eating quietly contemplating her mother's words. She tried her best to imagine the cruelness her friend had to suffer through. Savannah came to one final conclusion. It was a horrible unimaginable conclusion.

"Did Cameron's dad kill her mommy?" Savannah demanded, her eyes searching her mother's for the truth.

"Yes." Catherine confirmed causing Savannah's eyes to widen in shock, she was right, why did she have to be right.

"Why would he do that?" she sobbed, half scared to know the truth.

"Her father is very bad," Catherine explained gently taking hold of her hand and squeezed comfortingly, "Once he did not need Cameron's mother, he got rid of her."

"What did Cameron's dad make her do?" Savannah asked, tears suddenly spilling from her eyes from her mother's revelation.

How could something so bad happen to someone so good like Cameron Phillips, She had been upset when her mother ignored her, she couldn't even begin to imagine what Cameron must have had to have gone though in order to be where she was today. Savannah dried her eye the best she could and looked down at the ground.

"That my dear, is where the conversation ends," Catherine informed her daughter with a commanding smile as she rose Savannah's chin so that she could look at her in the eyes, "Cameron has the right to privacy, especially with the more personal aspects of her life."

"Then why did you tell me all of that? Wasn't it personal as well?" the eight year old asked, frowning at her mother slightly for her sudden refusal to tell her more.

"You are right of course, but it was necessary that I fill you in a little," Weaver said, smiling at her daughters blunt observation "And besides Savannah, didn't Cameron give you a few hints of what I told you already?"

Savannah nodded and leaned her head onto her mother's shoulder, which placed her hand onto Savannah's head softy and stroked her hair, quietly saying. "You are a good friend to her dear, and because of that Cameron is very happy to have you there for her."

"Who are you calling mommy?" Savannah piped curiously as she watched her mother pull her mobile phone out of her pocket and browsed her contact list briefly.

"John," She stated as she rose the phone to her ear "I must inform him that Cameron is feeling a little down."

Catherine stood up from her seat and briefly kissed Savannah on the forehead and said "I will be back dear." Weaver walked slowly away from her. Her daughter nodded and looked down, still clearly upset by the revelation.

"Hello?" John's voice called out from the other end of the line after three rings.

"Hello John, this is Catherine Weaver." Catherine spoke to him. She went silent, listening patiently as she waited for John to respond.

"Ah hey Mrs. Weaver are you looking Cameron?"

"No John I was hoping I would have a chance to speak to you briefly." Catherine stated politely, trying her best to keep her voice from sounding to cold or disconcerting.

"Alright shoot." John said, causing Catherine to cringe slightly at the use of the human saying.

"I thought I would warn you about Cameron," Weaver replied, watching as a group of children went rushing by her playing some form of primitive childish war game. "I am afraid that she is having a few problems with school."

"What's the matter?" John demanded from her catching Catherine off guard with his intense reaction. His loyalty and dedication to Cameron's safety during her change caused Catherine's admiration to grow for the young man.

"General problems," Catherine explained to him "Jealousy of Riley, anger at a young male by the name of Morris."

"What did Morris do?" he asked, his voice sounding nonchalant, but by the way he was speaking it was probably more likely that he was very worried for both Cameron and Morris more than he was willing to let on to her.

"Apparently he asked her on a date," Catherine told him as she turned back and waved to her daughter sweetly and added, "Cameron was not impressed, she said she felt guilty about assaulting him."

"At least she feels guilty. At least she knew that her reaction was wrong," John replied back to her trying to put a positive spin on Cameron's behavior. "It could have ended worst right?"

"You are correct it could have just as easily ended with a picture of him in the memorial pages." Weaver agreed with the human and fell into an uncomfortable silence.

"Is that all Miss Weaver?" he finally asked uncertainly.

"Before I hang up I need to clear the air with you." Catherine said breaking the silence.

"What about?"

"I was quite pushy the other day John," She explained "Cameron was right about me, I do resent the future you which makes me focus heavily on your negative aspects." Catherine thought for second in a moment of self reflection and then added, "What I should have been doing was focus on what good you could do for her."

John did not reply so Catherine took that as a queue and continued.

"I have bore witness to some of the worst humanity has to offer during my time under Skynet's command: Fear, hatred, rage, betrayal." she listed off coldly, "All these emotions have resulted in actions that have permanently damaged the reputation of intelligent organic life."

"But I have witnessed some of the best humanity has to offer as well Connor," she added, her voice lightening considerably, "Everyday I watch Savannah and learn from her, she teaches me something new every time I interact with her, it may be as small quirk such as not stepping on a sidewalk crack or something as powerful as having the ability to love and nurture others unconditionally."

"So I have to admit John, I need your help with Cameron," Weaver continued forcing her usually commanding tone to sound humble, "There is only so much that I can do to elevate her tension and worry, she may be a machine, but she has so much potential to become something much more then I could ever be. She needs to see what feelings are like first hand."

"But Mr. Connor, you need to control your temper around her," Catherine warned the human, "She is a blank slate so to speak, she needs to witness good emotions and actions and learn to be careful if a negative emotion were to arise."

"Finally I would like to extend an apology to you, I treated you like a child and you certainly deserve some credit in helping out our mutual interest, I will make an attempt to not cause trouble in regards to your relationship with Cameron."

"But stay away from sex am I right?" John said dryly.

"If it is possible," Catherine stated seriously "I know that Cameron is a very attractive cybernetic organism, I would not bother to blame you if it happened by accident. Just know however, that I am trying to keep Cameron from falling into rampancy for a long as possible".

"After she changes however, it will be perfectly acceptable to engage in sexual intercourse should you both choose to." Catherine finished, smirking to herself.

"Okay, well apology accepted Catherine", John said laughing at her words. "Maybe someday soon you'll start not seeing me as the John Connor you knew."

"John, the simple fact that you said that shows me the difference," she said kindly smiling gently to herself. "Have a good day."

Catherine ended the call and slipped the phone back into her purse as she began to walk back towards her daughter, Recess was nearly over and it was time to her to return to ZeiraCorps. She sat back next to her daughter and placed her hands on Savannah's hand and enjoyed the last few minutes they had together before they had to leave each other's company.

* * *

She was finally home.

Cameron pulled the bike into the driveway and brought it to a stop. She pulled her helmet off and tucked it under her arms as she reached into the bikes side satchel and grabbed John's bag. With an almost reluctant look she trudged towards the house, silently contemplating her actions of that morning.

Yes she still felt guilty, but she pushed it aside, there was nothing she could do about it right now, she wasn't even sure if she could fix the Morris issue, he may have been harmed by her, but he was the one who started everything. She only reacted to his offense. Didn't she?

Quietly she closed the door behind her and slowly made her way to the living room where she heard John and Sarah's voices come from, she readjusted the bag and continued to walk, her steps lightening so that John and Sarah would not be bothered by her noise.

Cameron stepped through the doorway and found that John was sitting on the couch chatting quietly with his mother as she examined some of the plastic explosives that John had made while they were gone.

"Hello Cameron." John said as he looked up and smiled at his cybernetic girlfriend warmly.

Cameron walked in slowly and pulled the bag off of her shoulder.

"I have gotten your assignments as you requested John," she said as she dumped the bag on the table, causing Sarah to look up at the frowning cyborg in front of her.

"We have a book assignment: Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell," Cameron deadpanned turning her eyes back to John and quietly added "I would not worry about it too much." Cameron took immediate notice of John's odd smile and tilted her head, unsure of what was the matter with him.

"What is the matter John?" Cameron inquired.

"I got a phone call from Catherine Weaver, Cameron." John told her politely

"Oh," was all Cameron said, looking away from John and down to floor, feeling very embarrassed that Catherine had informed John before she had a chance to, She wasn't mad at her teacher. Catherine had every right to tell John, particularly if she thought John's intervention could help her out.

"Do you think I am mad at you?" John continued with an inquisitive stare, Cameron said nothing, instead she held her gaze to the ground as she nodded her head.

"What if I told you that I wasn't mad." John informed her kindly, but his words did not comfort her, instead she kept her head low.

"What if I told that I was more concerned about how you're doing?"

"Why would you," Cameron finally spoke up and looked back at John with protesting eyes, "I hurt your friend John, he did not deserve to be humiliated like that."

"No he didn't," John confirmed to her "but at least you can admit that you made a mistake, otherwise you'd be acting liking mom here." he finished gesturing to his mother who was still inspecting his homemade charges.

"Ha ha." Sarah blandly called out still not looking at the pair of them.

"Cameron do you want a hug?" John asked her with the faintest hint of a smile etched on his face "you look like you need one."

Cameron looked at him curiously, and then slowly nodded her head.

"How about you give my mom one," John said to her, finally catching his mother's attention at long last "she probably would very much like one from you."

"Ah no John..." Sarah said hastily "I think comforting her its more something that you should be doing."

The cyborg nodded to John seemingly ignoring her statement and turned her attention to Sarah, she now smiling slightly at Sarah's expression, Cameron walked to Sarah and leaned over to her. Sarah, who had braced herself for Cameron's affection, looked back in to the girl's face which was now smiling at the older woman.

"Do not worry Sarah Connor." she said softly, a glimmer of understanding shone in her brown eyes, "I will hold off on the physical affection when it comes to us, for now."

"Thanks Cameron." Sarah said nodding in appreciation. Cameron smiled at her once again and turned her attention back towards her John and moved to swiftly, taking him in to a firm hug, John laughed slightly and ran his hand through her hair.

Cameron smiled into his chest as she felt him touching her. Cameron looked up at him, a small smile gracing her lips as she pressed them to his chin she pulled away slightly to raise them to his cheek, she kissed him once again.

"Would you be upset if I told you that I have a date with Riley Dawson?" Cameron suddenly blurted out to him. To say that John was shocked was an understatement. Even Sarah looked up in horror. John's mouth hung open as he tried his very best to find the right words.

Cameron smiled once again and added "It is purely to investigate her, I would not want her to have gained any knowledge from you by accident, having sexual relations with a girl like her might have led to a slip up."

"First off I didn't have sex with her Cameron, do you think I messed up?" John finally managed to say to his paranoid cybernetic girlfriend.

"I am only making an assumption," Cameron replied laying her head onto John's shoulder and added "It could be as easy as her snooping around and finding contacts in your mobile phone."

John didn't bother to reply, he knew that Cameron was not going to be budged on her assignment, Instead he merely kissed Cameron's forehead, making her smile warmly at his affection and squirmed only slightly in his grip.

Once again she pulled away and tilted her head as she took in his features.

"John?" she inquired sweetly her voice now seductive masked by that innocent tone she possessed. "Could we go upstairs and engage in sex?"

"No No and No," Sarah exclaimed standing up in protest of the cyborg's statement. "John is not doing that Cameron. Isn't that against what Catherine Weaver specifically said. Didn't she ask you two to lay off sexing each other up?"

"Yes," Cameron conceded to the mother, sounding like she did not want to admit this small little fact, but quickly added. "But I would be demonstrating an act of free will Sarah, Catherine Weaver would allow me this one mistake."

"Cameron, you and John have only been seeing each other for a week." Sarah pointed out quickly. "Do you want to mess up your progress just to get laid?" Cameron turned her attention from Sarah and looked up to John, who nodded reluctantly.

"No, you are right Sarah," Cameron said finally "I will do my best to resist your son's advances."

John ignored her comment as another attempt at dry humor. Instead he took hold of her waist and led her back towards the stairs.

"Where are we going John?" Cameron inquired as his hand moved from her waist and connected to her hand. John merely grinned lecherously.

"Your bedroom, mom probably doesn't want to watch you attempting to molest me." John replied causing Sarah to cringe at the thought.

"It is not molestation if you are sufficiently satisfied with what I do," She informed John before she turned her head back to Sarah and said "See you in a while Sarah."

Sarah nodded and looked back to the charge in her hand and placed it with the rest as her son and Cameron left her by herself. She laid back into the couch and looked down into her lap, she fell back deeply into thoughts about Kyle. She did not notice that Derek was now leaning onto the couch where John had been sitting.

"Sarah, are you okay?" Derek said aloud, Sarah turned to look into Derek's face. He was freshly shaved now with an unreadable look on his face. Sarah patted the seat next to her. Derek nodded and pulled himself over the couch and onto the seat next to her. Sarah kept her eyes low.

Derek focused his eyes onto the side of her face and noticing doing something he had never witnessed her do sober. She was crying, she had tears rolling down her tired expression. Derek lowered his own eyes. Derek reached his uninjured hand and took hold of Sarah's who squeezed it and looked up to Reese trying to keep her tears from falling in front of the soldier.

"I miss my brother too." he whispered back to her causing Sarah to sob slightly and look away from Derek miserably.

"I wish I had longer with him," She finally managed to say, her free hand trying to wipe the tears away in vain. "Derek you were so lucky to have him for as long as you did."

Derek didn't know what to say to her, he didn't think he could say anything to comfort the woman. Instead Derek reached over her shoulder and pulled her into a weak hug. She couldn't help it any longer she held onto him and sobbed in to his shoulder.

"God Derek, I wanted him to stick around you know?" Sarah spoke up again, muffled from Derek's shoulder, after moment she said "I would have given anything to have been with him like Cameron is with John."

Derek nodded and laid his head next to hers and silently he forgot about his anger towards her and John and even the metal. He finally knew the reason why she was the meanest woman he ever met. If she did not maintain the facade then she would have fallen apart many years ago.

Listening to her sob in his arms only confirmed his depressing theory.

"Come on in." John told Cameron as he stopped to allow Cameron to enter her room first. Slowly she walked in and looked around. She felt her body being slightly pushed as John walked in behind her, with great hesitation she turned herself around and looked into her John's eyes. There was no anger, no disappointment, just understanding.

Cameron found herself back in Johns arm kissing him as deep and for as long as she could, her hands gripped his hair desperately, hoping to make up for not being at his side for the past two hours and nineteen minutes.

She rubbed her soft flesh covered mechanical hand down his chest and rested them onto his lower waist as she tilted her head to kiss him from a different angle. She felt John gently push away from her, Cameron did not care for his protest at this point. Instead she pushed his body into her closed door.

She pushed her chest into his and kissed his neck softly as she heard only a moan of mild protest. Finally Cameron pulled away and bit her slightly swollen lips. John turned his head back to Cameron and took hold of her head so that she would look directly into his eyes.

"Take off your jacket." John requested from her.

Cameron complied taking off her leather jacket and tossed it on to her dresser and turned back towards John with a playful smile, but noticed that he was looking at her much more serious now.

"Lay down Cameron." he asked, Cameron nodded pulled away from him to walk next to the bed, she laid down with a machinelike quality. John followed her and laid down onto the other side of her.

"You're still upset, I know that you are." John pointed out as he rubbed her cheek softly. Cameron nodded in agreement vaguely.

"I am John." she admitted to him morosely.

The hand on her cheek slowly fell down the side of her face and rested on her chest where her lungs would have been, Cameron looked down at the hand and back up to her boyfriend, hoping to herself that he would attempt to slip his hand down her shirt.

"I want you to breathe for Me." he said to her finally.

It was not what she wanted to do, but if John felt he could help then she was going to let him attempt to assist her. Cameron obliged and began to inhale and exhale for him, John shook his head.

"Take a deep, slow breath and look at my hand as it rises and falls." he corrected himself as he gestured to his hand. Cameron nodded and inhaled deeply and watch his hand rise after several seconds she exhaled and watched once again as his hand lower rhythmically.

Cameron closed her eyes and dived deep into her memories that she had stored from Saturday night. She smiled inwardly as she recalled her dream with relative ease. She opened her eyes once again and smiled fondly at her John.

"I am feeling much better John," Cameron whispered affectionately to the young man next to her. "Thank you for helping me."

John blushed slightly and said "It's my pleasure Cam, if you ever need help with things that Weaver can't help you with...come to me, I want to help you with anything I can."

Cameron nodded and placed a hand on back of his head and brought his head closer to hers. She raised her lips to meet his and kissed them softly. They hesitated only a second before they repeated the kiss again.

"I know that you will John." Cameron said softly, she finally felt okay again. She had him again and everything felt right to her. John smiled and placed his hand back onto her cheek softly.

"Cameron, I love you, and you love Me." his words echoing the events of many months prior, they were the words that started it all, they were the reason she survived that horrible night. In that moment he unknowingly witnessed a change in her.

"I still do not know why I said those words to you that night John, but I meant them, I really did." Cameron replied to him, she looked at him, wanting him to believe her. John smiled sympathetically and nodded in agreement. John pressed his hand onto her shoulder and placed himself closer.

The cyborg turned her body as well until their legs and arms were interlaced together. She felt his exhales tickle her face, Cameron kissed him and moved her mouth from his and up to his forehead and kissed it once more.

"John, would you be interested in hearing that I had a good dream Saturday night?" Cameron asked him coyly. John grinned at her and nodded his head.

"Cam," John said to her "I would love to hear it."


	12. A New Threat

**Chapter Twelve: A New Threat**

**

* * *

**

Catherine Weaver opened her eyes in mild annoyance as she heard the faint sound of her mobile phone ringing from upstairs. She had been reviewing hours of mission logs as she feigned sleep for Savannah's sake. The little girl who was currently curled up next to her and sleeping peacefully unaware of her mother's real reason for laying with her. Catherine sat up from the bed and looked over at the sleeping girl.

Lightly, she decided grazed her daughters cheek, causing her to move closer to her. Catherine smiled slightly at the child and got out of bed.

The liquid metal machine found herself unsure if an eight year should still be sleeping with her mother. She decided to simply consider it to be making up for lost time between them. Weaver pulled on robe over her white night gown and ascended the stairs carefully. It had to have been Cameron Phillips, there was no doubt in her mind that the troubled cyborg had needed her.

She swiftly turned the corner and headed down the hallway towards her office, where her mobile phone was ringing.

As she reached her office she vaguely looked over towards the running security monitors and noticed John Henry, her creation...her child, sitting alone clearly continuing to develop his sense of self. Finally the T-1001 lifted the mobile and read the display, confirming her suspicion. Catherine frowned to herself as she answered the phone, Weaver found herself hoping that Cameron's problem was not a serious one today.

"I apologize for taking so long Cameron," Catherine said taking a seat behind her computer "I was slightly distracted."

"You have no need to apologize Catherine." Cameron's voice called back to her, waving off the apology.

"How can I help you Cameron? Are you having an incident?" She asked the cyborg. She was ready for anything that the cyborg had to unload onto her, but Cameron sounded different tonight, more reflective than usual.

Hesitation came at first before Cameron finally said "No I wanted to talk to you Catherine."

You wanted to talk at 3:39 in the morning?" She asked as she furrowed her forehead at her Cameron's statement.

"I will call you at 9AM if that is better for you Catherine." Cameron said apologetically, sounding worried that she had been bothering Weaver by calling so early in the morning,

"No, it is fine Cameron," Weaver said to the machine. "What do you want to talk about?"

"You." Cameron replied seriously.

"Me?" Catherine replied, sounding very curious now. "Please continue, I find myself intrigued with what you wish to learn about me." Hesitation came from the other end of the call so Catherine waited patiently before Cameron's question she wanted to inquire about was finally verbalized.

"You killed eighty seven children Catherine," Cameron finally stated, her voice seemed almost disgusted with the thought as she was curious, after a moment she added. "Do you regret it?"

"Do I regret killing those children?" Catherine reiterated, turning her chair Catherine glanced back towards the security monitor as she worked out the question internally. A flood of memories overwhelmed her thought process. Finally she after focused herself on the question Catherine said, "No I do not."

"You don't?' Cameron asked disbelievingly. "Why is that Catherine Weaver?"

"On a personal level yes, killing those children was a horrible act." Catherine sighed to the terminator on the other end, quietly she looked down into her lap and added "But had I not killed them it would not have lead to my guilt and had I not felt guilty I would not have broken away."

"Let me put it like this Cameron, had I not blown up that tunnel Skynet may have deactivated me for refusal to follow an order." Catherine stated simply. "If I had been deactivated then I would not be able to help you out with your own rampancy."

"Had I not been able to make it to the past then John Henry would have been the building blocks for Skynet, Savannah would have still been orphaned and you would never have had the chance to know her."

"In the end I blew up that tunnel and Skynet took me in for repairs," Weaver continued after allowing Cameron time to digest what had been said, "I nearly disobeyed an order, but our old master assumed that it was due to the plasma damage I had received less than 40 minutes prior. As I was checked over I started to think and when I thought about my actions that night, I knew what I did was wrong."

"But was it worth it Cameron?" Weaver added, "Yes it was."

"So here we are, back at your original question 'was it worth the lives of eighty seven children and over two hundred adults?'" Catherine finished her voice edged now. "My answer is yes Cameron, yes because I am free now and I can trade those lives lost at my hands for thousands if not millions because of my actions today."

"So you have no regret." Cameron finally asked.

"None anymore." Catherine finished, the tone of her voice not allowing Cameron an opening for any sort of retort.

Weaver found herself wondering why Cameron was asking these questions. Was she having regrets, doubts about her ability to handle the situation she had found herself in? Catherine couldn't blame her if she was. What was to happen to the terminator would be the most difficult challenge she would have ever faced. Weaver knew this from experience. She thought about that as she glanced at the photo of Lachlan Weaver and the original Catherine.

"Cameron I must ask something from you now." Catherine said looking up from the framed photo of the original Catherine Weaver with her husband and a two year old Savannah Weaver on her lap, the image of the dead woman smiling mockingly at her, reminding Catherine that the identity that she had taken was not truly hers.

"What do you need Catherine." Cameron asked as Weaver stood up from her seat to get away from the photo.

"A babysitter," Catherine said smiling slightly as she opened the veranda doors and walked out on to the balcony that overlooked the city, she took her place next to the railing and added, "I am afraid that with all the time I have been dedicating to you, Savannah and John Henry. It would seem that I have forgotten an important social engagement that I must attend. I do not like attending events such as this, but this one is a necessary annoyance."

"Of course, at what time?" Cameron replied easily as Catherine detected a note of increased enthusiasm in her voice.

"Can you pick Savannah up at 5pm, she will be at her dance class." Catherine informed her babysitter. "Would you please take her back to the Connor's residence for the night and I will pick her up by 1:30AM."

Cameron did not answer right away she seemed to have been contemplated Catherine's very odd request.

"Why not at your home?" Cameron spoke up. "Would that not be a more suitable place for her to be?"

"No," Weaver stated as she leaned off the balcony and walked back inside. "John Henry is at my home and I am very worried about you two meeting each other so soon, No Cameron it must be at the Connors."

"Why would you be worried?" Cameron inquired from her. Catherine couldn't help but detect a hint of childish curiosity behind her words.

"I have put too much time into getting him to this level of development," Catherine explained gently so that she did not upset the nearly rampant machine. "I would not want to risk his development because of an incident that may occur with you. Until you manage to get your emotions relatively under control, you cannot see John."

Silence greeted her reason for several moments before Cameron said "I understand Catherine," Cameron stopped again but added. "I will inform Sarah about this today I am reasonably certain that she will allow it, perhaps she can initiate her plan to kidnap Savannah."

"I beg your pardon Cameron?" The T-1001 inquired, suddenly finding herself having second thoughts about the safety of Savannah in the Connor home,

"It was just a joke Catherine I am not really good at them at the moment." Cameron admitted ruefully. Weaver closed her eyes and calmed her worry down.

"So I have heard." Catherine replied, trying her best to not scold the other terminator for her words. "For future reference, I take threats against my daughter and John Henry very seriously, it would be best for all of us if you did not attempt humorous words about their safety."

"I understand, I will refrain from that." The cyborg agreed with the liquid infiltrator.

"Thank you for understanding Cameron I would like to go back to Savannah now," Weaver replied, feeling slightly amused with the TOK-715's odd idea of humor as she added "I am sure you would like nothing better than to be with John as well. Do you have any more questions that you would like to ask me?"

"No Catherine Weaver," Cameron affirmed, her voice sounding slightly hesitant "Thank you for your time I am sorry once again for disturbing you."

"It is quite alright Cameron," Catherine said disregarding Cameron's uncertainty. "If you have any more questions or concerns about yourself then do not hesitate to call for help, I am always ready to help you."

"Thanks Catherine, for everything."

"Goodnight Cameron," Weaver replied easily. "Give the Connors my regards".

As Catherine hung up the phone she turned to give the city of Los Angeles one last parting glance before returning to her room and back to her studies.

* * *

Cameron wasn't in bed with John when he woke up that morning. Silently he stretched out his muscles and sat up, resting his body against the pillow. He placed his hand over his head nursing the splitting headache that was rushing through his head.

She had had a dream about them getting married. John couldn't have been more nervous about the prospect. Not because he didn't want to, but, the concept of marriage at such a young age just seemed too rushed. The way she talked about it however, the way she went into detail with so much enthusiasm about her dress and what he was wearing.

Then there was the sex part of the dream that made her so much more excited to chatter on about. Now she was dreaming about sex as well? God it was making it harder and harder to follow Catherine's request. It seemed everything that Cameron did was becoming suddenly much more sexualized. John did his best to keep his thoughts on issues other than this dream because the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to act on it which was something he promised Weaver he would try to resist.

The door opened and there she stood, one arm carrying three M4A1 carbines and in the other, a collection of high caliber pistols and Submachine guns and a M249 slung over her shoulder. It wasn't the sight of the cyborg carrying so many weapons that stunned him, it was the fact that she decided that walking around in just her matching pink and black panties was okay that caught him off guard.

Cameron certainly wasn't making this easy for him, not one bit.

"Too hot to wear anything?" John guessed with an odd grin.

"My temperature regulators are working fine John," Cameron deadpanned, her voice was without any of the emotion it had in previous days . "I did not feel like wearing so many garments this morning."

As she focused her gaze on him John knew that the emotion was still there, Cameron gave him a mild smile in confirmation as she continued walking to her closet and placed the weapons inside, towards the back. After pulling out a few shirts she did not wear anymore, and using them to conceal the guns, she turned back to face him. She walked towards the bed and took a seat at his feet, silently she laid her hand on his blanket covered foot .

"You know John," Cameron said softly, rubbing her hand slowly up his leg and onto his thigh. "I wanted to play yesterday, but all we did was talk about my dream and helped out your mother."

"We have been rather prudent as of late John," she continued fluttering her eye lashes lightly. "I know that I am not the one who is worried about Sarah's reaction."

Cameron allowed a smirk as she crawled gently into the young man's lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing their faces close. He shivered slightly as she lowered her lips and touched them to his neck teasingly. John slipped her arms around the emerging transhumans waist.

He returned her affection by raising himself up to press himself against her half naked body as she begun to kiss him properly. Suddenly Cameron found herself giggling uncontrollably. John couldn't help it, he laughed slightly and pulled back as he watched Cameron continued to giggle.

Suddenly the girl buried her head into his chest as she continued to laugh into him, John felt her body shiver violently into him. Cameron looked back up to him her smile still planted on her lips, but her eyes told a different story. She was in pain, hers widened in what looked like fear.

John placed both of his hands onto her head and brought her close to him. He placed one of his hands onto her bare chest causing Cameron to look down at it, gently Cameron closed her eyes and focused her total attention onto the weight of John's hand on her. Without words she placed her arms around his neck and shuddered slightly as she kissed the side of his lips.

"What if I am always like this John, breaking down every few hours," Cameron asked, her voice nearly cracking "I am causing so many problems for you and Sarah, is my freedom really worth the inconvenience? I don't want to lose you because of something I may do in the near futur-."

"Cameron do you want to get married to me?" John asked the rambling terminator.

It was little surprise that Cameron stopped dead and turned to John, her face was contorted into a look of utter shock. Cameron looked him dead in the eyes, not daring to speak as she absorbed the grin that he was now giving her.

"You...you want to get married to me John?" Cameron question finally, her mouth still open slightly trying to digest the thousands of thoughts that were pouring into her head at that very moment.

"Yes Cameron," John affirmed simply. "When would be the best time to do this?"

"I- well, I am not sure of a time and place but-" Cameron managed to inform him, for the first time in her whole existence, she found herself at a lost from words, John couldn't help it as he smiled wider at her blank expression.

"Got your attention?" John asked Cameron smiling brightly at her. "Good. Because the reaction your giving me is something I won't get if you give up now."

Cameron blinked_, 'were they not getting married now?'_ she pondered to herself, and her face radiated a sudden confusion.

John sighed and shook his head.

"Cameron don't you understand?" John asked her seriously. "You can't just think about the negative aspects of your transformation. Be aware of them yes, but don't focus on them. We are all here for you. We don't want you to fall off this path, because you know what will happen don't you?, you'll revert back to someone much different then you are now."

"What do you think will happen if you go back to the same old program driven, protect John Connor at any cost mentality?" John demanded "What will happen when you choose to repair your corruption and continue your normal mission just as you did before the accident?"

Cameron tilted her head slightly and thought about the question for several moments, if she choose to fix herself, her emotional responses would have been limited once more, she would cease to be, in a liberal sense of the word, human.

"I will lose my feelings for you." she answered truthfully. John nodded, a grim look flashed across his features.

"And I don't think I could stand you losing those feelings, so please Cameron." John requested trying his best not to sound anxious. "I would really like you to stick with these changes."

"I promise that I'll be there for you Cameron. I want you to keep on remembering that," John said softly to the emotionally downtrodden terminator "It's not going to change between us, you have to keep yourself steady, for yourself, for me. Because I want you to be with me."

"And one day soon?" John softly added rubbing his thumb over her cheek playfully, "Well I can't see why marriage isn't a possibility for us in the near future if that is something you want for us."

Cameron smiled brightly at the prospect and begun to kiss him once again. Her mind was racing with the approval John gave her. Maybe it wasn't as soon as possible as she had found herself wanting, but at least John seemed open to the concept and to her that was all she needed for the moment.

"John?" Cameron said, laying her head back down onto John's pillow in order to be closer to him. Quietly she looked away from him, feeling another sudden bout of worry coming to the center of her focus.

"Yes Cameron?" John replied still watching over her.

"I want to say that I am sorry," She stated, trying to avoid the young man's gaze before adding, "I wish that I was not a disappointment to you."

"You're not a disappointment Cameron," John disagreed "I overreacted and I'm the one who should be sorry."

"It is my entire fault John," the cyborg said, shaking off his attempted apology and added "I followed Sarah's order, it was wrong, I deserved to be told off for something as foolish as allowing her to deactivate me."

"John, please do not call me a disappointment again." Cameron whispered as she turned to face John once more, as her eyes darted back and forth. "You can be angry, you can hit me or scream at me, I would not be bothered if you did that to me."

"Please don't call me a disappointment. I don't think I could ever stand to be called one again. I promise you that I will never be a disappointment to you again." Cameron suddenly begged as she took hold of his waist and brought him down on top of her, his head now resting on her breast.

"Cameron I have no plans to hurt you." John said trying to cut through his girlfriends desperate words. It did not work, Cameron ignored his promise ad continued to rant.

"John I don't care, I just don't want you to call me a disappointment, never again John, please I don't want to be a disappointmen-." she stopped her almost illogical rant when John place his hand over her mouth and held it there until the protest in her eyes fell to resignation.

"You have no need to apologize for being a disappointment, Cameron I was the bigger disappointment then you could ever be."

Cameron shook her head, disagreeing with him the best she could but John still held his hand over her mouth.

"I was Cameron, you have no real reason to argue it." John argued through her sudden protest against his statement "I was insensitive. What you did that night, you did it for my benefit, you did it to prove your loyalty to me to my mom, and you know what I did? I questioned it, I thought you wanted us to fail. I thought you wanted to take the easy path and give up on your free will before it's even begun."

"Cam, I was the one in the wrong, so you have no reason to apologize. I promise you, I promise that will never call you that again." John finished as he let go of her mouth.

You cannot promise that John," Cameron said quietly trying to hide the sudden bitterness that was present in her voice. "It is human nature to go back on promises, one day I may do something that does not please you and then you will call me a disappointment, like you already have."

"Then I'll break human nature Cam, I'll break it for you because you're worth it." John replied firmly as he took hold of her hands and looked into her brown eyes so that she would see the seriousness of his words. Cameron searched his feature and then slowly nodded her head.

Cameron gave him a weak smile and kissed him weakly on the neck.

"John, I will forgive you if you do one thing for me." Cameron told him as she pulled John on to her and ran one of her hands through his short hair fondly, causing John to smile.

"Anything." he said as he felt Cameron take hold of his wrist.

"Touch me." Cameron said placing his hand on the top of her left breast side slightly from the rough texture of Johns hand on her sensitive smooth skin "Touch me like you did in my dreams, touch me like you did when I went to meet Weaver for the first time. Please John do this for me."

John had to hand it to her, she certainly wasn't making it easy for him to resist.

"This will make you feel better?" John asked as his fingers teased Cameron, who shuffled her body to give John some more room to work with.

"It will be a start John, and it will certainly make me a lot more cheerful." Cameron said warmly as she rubbed his own chest and raised her lips again to latch on to Johns' with enough power that she forced John's head back several inches. After another brief kiss Cameron smiled and laid back on the bed.

"It opens at the front John, you may open it at your discretion." Cameron told John coyly. John nodded dumbly and lowered his head into her breast and kissed her soft, warm skin gently as he unhooked her bra carefully revealing her to him once again. But the moment she felt his lips on her fully naked breast was the moment she heard a loud and a sudden bang on the door.

"Cameron where the hell are all the guns!" Sarah yelled loudly from the other end of the door, Cameron blinked and pulled John's head off of her and sat up quickly.

"One moment Sarah," Cameron stated as she playfully fought off John's renewed advances. "I am afraid that John and I are engaged in something you may not enjoy to witness, give us a few moments."

Cameron tossed John shirt back to him and quickly refastened her bra. She looked to John and smiled mischievously as he pulled on his shirt. The moment the shirt was on Cameron nearly jumped at him once again and quickly begun to wrestle his tongue with her own. The sudden force of Cameron's affection caused John to fall off the bed landing on the floor hard forcing him to yelp in pain, but a second later he was laughing wildly from the fall.

He saw Cameron crawl off of the bed and onto him as she continued to kiss him feverishly, pinning his arms over his head as she took a seat on John's lap. Finally after several more kisses, she released his mouth and smiled at him playfully.

"Judging by the sudden blood rush to your reproductive organ I would think you are sufficiently turned on by me." Cameron stated bluntly causing John to turn a slight shade of red.

"Ugh you really know how to turn on a guy and then turn him off, because you sound like a damn high school health teacher a moment later." John replied causing Cameron to giggle unnaturally and clamber off of John and walk towards her dresser.

"Perhaps soon you could teach me less formal words for your Reproductive organ?" Cameron asked as she opened the dresser and grabbed a tight fitting purple shirt and pulled it on.

"Cameron I am not having this conversation with you." John exclaimed to the cyborg, feeling that he shouldn't be surprised by her blunt way of getting topic into the open. Cameron, on the other hand, merely smiled at John and crossed the room to open her door for Sarah who stood there with her arms crossed.

"Come in Sarah." Cameron said, moving from the door fame to allow Sarah into her room. Sarah walked in slowly as she looked at her disheveled son sitting on the floor, smiling at her sheepishly. Sarah gave her son a curt nod and turned back to Cameron who was only wearing a shirt and panties.

"You do know you're not wearing any pants Cameron?" Sarah pointed out, Cameron looked down at her bare legs and nodded as she focused back on Sarah.

"I was eighty seven percent naked less than 1 minute 57 seconds earlier Sarah," Cameron informed Johns mother dutifully "I do not think you would be happy if I had decided to not get dressed at all."

"Why have all the closets been cleaned out Cameron?" Sarah demanded looking slightly irritated with the thought of her son and Cameron fooling around naked..

Cameron did not reply, instead she simply pointed towards her closet. Sarah moved toward the closet and opened it up, revealing a pile of weapons sticking out from the couple outfits covering them.

"And exactly why are they all in here and why are you hiding them?" Sarah asked pointedly, Cameron clenched her lips and shrugged her shoulders.

"Not all of them Sarah," Cameron said back to Sarah as if it was the most obvious question in the world. "Most of the weapons are downstairs."

"That still doesn't answer my question Cameron," Sarah pressed onwards. "Why did you move them?"

Cameron looked from Sarah annoyed stare and back to John curious face. Cameron ran her hand across the back of her neck unsure of what to say to them. Somehow, she had completely forgotten about why she had packed all the weapons away.

_Retrieving schedule for 26/05/08...Standby_

_Schedule retrieved_

_00.01-05:35: Night Watch_

_05:35-09:01: lay down with John_

_09:01-15:35: ensure survival of primary objective, attempt to not disappoint him_

_15:35: depart Connor residence, arrive at Savannah Weave-_

Cameron found herself shocked that she had forgotten what Catherine had asked for her services tonight. There was no excuse, something was glitching in her memory core. She looked back up to Sarah, her eyes still glowing a vivid blue. When Cameron realized that she was now taking a scan of Sarah's identity, she quickly disabled it

"I was meaning to explain," Cameron said apologetically as she decided to take a seat at the edge of her bed. "I was having a conversation this morning with Catherine Weaver. She asked me if I could babysit Savannah tonight, she seems to have an important function to attend, she decided that it was in Savannah's best interest to stay with me tonight."

"I know it is rather decisive action on my part, but Catherine loves Savannah and will not attempt anything dangerous in her presence when she picks her up after her function."

"That means I have to meet Weaver right?"

"If you wish to," Cameron said shrugging her shoulders before adding. "You could always take Derek out tonight."

"Never mind, I'll take my chances with Weaver." Sarah muttered to herself. Cameron suddenly laughed aloud catching Sarah off guard at the barking laughter that erupted from the cybernetic organism. After Cameron looked back to Sarah she gave the older woman an apologetic smile.

"That is a rather amusing choice Sarah." She said offhandedly "Will I be able to borrow the truck today?"

"Derek is probably going to need the truck tonight, he said he had something to do." Sarah told Cameron, who nodded, feeling slightly sorry for Reese who in all likelihood, was going out to get drunk.

"I am sure it is very important," Cameron said trying to understand why Derek Reese did not take her hint about abusing intoxicants "I suppose Savannah will have to make do with the bike then."

Sarah raised her eyebrows at the idea and asked "You're going to take an eight year old on a bike?" Sarah looked suddenly feeling concern for a child she had never met in her life. Sarah shook her head inwardly at the concept and added "isn't that dangerous?"

"I am very proficient at driving Sarah," Cameron voiced, hoping to sooth some of Sarah Connor obvious concern for others "Savannah Weaver will be more then safe when I pick her up."

Cameron looked into Sarah's pointed look and added "That is, if you would not mind if she came over for the day."

Sarah looked from Cameron to John who nodded his head vigorously. Cameron looked down to where John was sitting and patted his head causing John to look down embarrassed that he was being treated like a pet. Sarah sighed, allowing Savannah over would be a gesture of friendship between the two of them.

"I'll guess I'm fine with it," Sarah finally said quietly "I suppose that she'll want some dinner as well."Sarah turned around to leave the room, deciding to leave the pair of them at it.

"I will pick up some takeout tonight," Cameron replied, choosing not to personally cook dinner for Sarah's sake. "I am sure that she would not want pancakes."

Sarah nodded her head and closed the door behind her leaving behind the pair of them in silence. Cameron looked down to John and smiled as he looked off to the wall in front of him looking very thoughtful.

"You were very silent John are you upset?" Cameron asked him curiously.

John shook his head and said "Nope, just thinking of you."

"That is good," Cameron said fondly as John turned himself around to face her properly. "You and I had been interrupted, once again."

In a single movement Cameron stripped off her shirt and bra, returning back to her original state of undress ten minutes prior.

"I would like to continue John," Cameron seductively whispered to the human, "Are you interested?"

By the way Cameron lunged at him it seemed that John didn't have a choice. Not that he was about to deny her anyway.

* * *

Cameron found herself to be slightly disgruntled with the fact that she and John had only spent six hours together, it seemed to her like such a short time. Cameron chose not to devote her time to that thought, she was very happy with having John there for her, he always seemed to know just how to keep her from crashing, For her something as simple as a touch from him was worth more than all the conversation Catherine Weaver could ever provide.

The TOK-715 pulled in the Pacific Arts Ballet School parking lot and brought the Kawasaki to a sudden halt as she did this she noticed the time displaying in her HUD which told her that it was currently 4:57PM.

Cameron got off the bike and scanned around the exterior of the dance school, finding no threats. She took a relaxed pose and walked through the dozens of adults waiting for their children outside. She passed by the older women easily ignoring the stares she was receiving from them. Cameron wondered only vaguely if the stares were directed at her because they thought she had a child in the class.

Cameron pushed those thoughts aside as she walked up the stairs.

The doors in front of her opened abruptly as a dozen young children went flying by her causing Cameron to take a single step back as she allowed them to pour past her. As they cleared from her path she continued to move up the stairs.

Cameron entered the building and scanned through its hallway, searching for Savannah, not finding her, she started walking the halls, listening carefully for any sign of the girl's voice.

_"You mean like this?" _Cameron turned her body around completely when she picked up the unique voice belonging to Savannah Weaver. Cameron walked towards the source of the words, she felt eighty nine percent sure that this was indeed Savannah Weaver's voice. She brushed past several gossiping parents and began to walk swifter to the source, she noticed two other woman hovering near to the doorway .

Savannah stood in the class with three other girls practicing pirouettes with their dance teacher giving them orders when she took notice to a mistake. The young girl had a rough understanding of the mechanics behind ballet, but Cameron was certain that with time her technique would improve.

For one brief moment, Cameron found herself wanting to join in, she wanted to help Savannah learn her moves effectively. She ended the thought as fast as she could. Her ability was due only to a program Skynet gave her and not through hard work and dedication. In reality she was completely talentless and Cameron was certain that this fact would never change.

Savannah ended her pirouette and turned her head taking immediate notice of Cameron standing by the door observing her closely. The girl smiled widely and turned back to face the teacher who was babbling on about technique, after several moments of ranting dismissed the students. Cameron watched as Savannah gathered up her things and ran at Cameron.

She collided with the terminator with a friendly grunt and wrapped her arms around her waist excitedly. Cameron returned the hug and smiled kindly at the child.

"Cameron you're here!" Savannah finally exclaimed as she looked up at her friend. Cameron nodded uncertain of what to say to the child.

"Of course I would be," Cameron finally said and added "You are a proficient dancer Savannah, I believe that in a few years you will be excellent at this activity."

"Thanks Cameron!" Savannah said, happily excited with the praise her friend gave her and asked "Do you dance?"

"No, I do not have the ability to dance." Cameron lied quickly to the little girl as she ignored the bitterness coming from her words.

But Savannah didn't seem to buy the lie, so instead she grabbed the older girl by the hand and said "Why don't you try to dance with me?"

"No Savannah we should probably get going, why don't you get dressed." Cameron said abruptly and pushed the little girl away from her. Savannah fell back a few feet from her, giving Cameron a single hurt look before she turned and walked towards the direction that the other girls went to go get change.

Guilt seeped into Cameron's mind as she watched Savannah walk away from her. She did not have the need to snap at the girl. It wasn't her fault. She was just trying to engage with her babysitter. Cameron had hurt the girl's feelings. She had hurt her friend's feelings.

Fifteen minutes passed by before Cameron saw Savannah again who was now out of her tights and wearing pants and a long sleeved shirt. The youngest Weaver walked towards the cybernetic organism, looking very worried of what might happen.

Savannah stopped less than a few feet from her.

"I am sorry if I was a bit snappish Savannah I did not mean to be so rude." Cameron said awkwardly. Savannah nodded her head and moved to give the "teen" into a soft hug which she returned fully.

"I know Cameron." Savannah finally replied feeling sorry for her babysitter, Savannah took firm hold of Cameron's hand and sweetly led her out of the dance studio answering the small questions her babysitter asked about her lessons. As the pair of them walked towards the parking lot.

Cameron stopped the little girl from walking any further as they got to the motorcycle, not noticing the quickly widening eyes Savannah was giving the bike.

"Wow you have a motorcycle?" Savannah asked enthusiastically, Cameron looked down and smiled, nodding her head. She pulled the seat off its hinge and pulled out two helmets and handed one to the girl. Cameron chuckled slightly as the little girl pulled the massive helmet over her head.

"It is John's uncles" She said as she attached he chin strap carefully, "but he cannot ride it at the moment."

"Why not?" Savannah asked as she adjusted the helmet on her head and watched Cameron shrug her shoulders.

"He was being rude to me so I fractured his hand."

As she put on her helmet, Cameron was unaware that Savannah was staring at her in shock. The look on Cameron's face only seemed to confirm that her new friend wasn't afraid to be violent if she had to, a warning that her mother had been giving her since Cameron and her had just met.

"Would you like a boost on?" Cameron inquired extending her hand out to Savannah, who looked back up to Cameron and took the hand graciously and hopped on to the back of the bike.

Cameron took hold of the girl's arms and placed them around her waist as she kicked the engine into gear As she took off she felt Savannah's arms tighten even further around him and smiled at her needless worry.

* * *

"So has everything been put away then John?" Sarah asked her son as she looked for any hidden weapons in the living room "Tin Miss ought to be back pretty soon."

"Yeah, everything seems to have been put away and Cameron does have a name." Her son snapped in a reply, irritated by Cameron's new nickname.

"What? Why I can't have nickname for her?" Sarah asked her son curiously, "you're the one always calling her Cam, if that's your pet name for her when you're fooling around then I am not calling her that."

Sarah watched as her son suddenly became very uncomfortable, he looked like he wanted nothing better than to bolt from the room. It wasn't her fault that she was asking these questions, they were bound to arise eventually.

"Yeah John, whatever you were doing to her was certainly not subtle" Sarah continued, trying her very best not to smirk at John's discomfort.

"Would you believe me that all I was doing was touching?" John asked his mother very innocently as he suppressed his embarrassment.

That was far too much to handle for Sarah, she held up her hands for him not to continue

"Too much information, this conversation is over, I never want to hear about it again." Sarah said quickly, not wanting to go any deeper into John and Cameron's semi sex life any further then she already had. Sarah found herself thanking Weaver, or the T-1001 version of Catherine Weaver, for putting a stop to Cameron's advances on her son. If that girl was so affected by touch, she didn't dare imagine what would happen if they were actually doing it.

"Hey you're the one who started this!" He replied easily, laughing aloud at her shocked look.

"Well I'm ending it." She said firmly as her son turned away from her.

"I got to admit though John, I'm curious about how she can feel, I've seen her pretty shot up at times, never once heard her complain about it." She asked her son as she followed him to the kitchen

"She told me that Skynet gave her a fully functional nervous system, I guess she turns it on at will." John replied vaguely as he reached the cupboard and pulled four plates from it. Sarah was satisfied with the response and took a seat at the table and watched John place the plates down.

"She's an odd cyborg, even odder ever since she began her changes." Sarah mused.

"Yeah, but it's worth it," John agreed with her, after a moment of thinking about that girl he suddenly laughed aloud, causing Sarah to look at him oddly after a few moments of laughter he managed to say, "when you and Derek were gone, Riley decided to come over, Cameron decided to act like an obsessive lesbian on her to frighten her off."

John laughed once again and this time Sarah joined in with it.

"Oh that poor girl, Cameron's gonna eat her alive when they go out, " Sarah finally said shaking her head at the hilarity Riley got herself into, "I'm torn between laughing and being worried that Cameron'll kill her."

"She won't kill her," John stated confidently "apparently I gave her an order not to kill her right after the incident and since Cameron hasn't gone rampant yet, she'll follow the request."

Silence descended as his words died in midair as he looked taken aback by a sudden and very sharp look his mother was now giving him.

"You know John, she's pretty broken up about you calling her a disappointment," She said, breaking their sudden silence, "you have an apologized to her haven't you?"

John sighed to himself as he thought about the phrase that would probably haunt him for many years to come. Why in the hell did he bother to even say that to Cameron, now even his own mother knew.

"A couple of times," John told her sounding very irked with the question "I don't think that she buys it though, she's really stubborn when it comes to these kinds of things. She gets it into her head that I'm not being sincere or something."

"Well I have no idea what goes on inside Tin Miss's head half the time, but if she still feels bitter about this then maybe you should sweep her off her feet," Sarah said stretching out her back. "Use that Connor charm I gave you, Take her to a gun range or down to Mexico to blow things up. I'm not sure what she likes John, but do something she enjoys and do it plenty, that might just sort her moodiness out."

John nodded her head and thought about it, maybe it was time to get Cameron out of the house, something that they both would enjoy. Maybe after Cameron and him sat down and had a serious discussion about finding things that Cameron actually enjoyed.

"Sounds like a good idea," John finally spoke up, "problem is I'm not sure that even Cameron knows what she likes."

"Besides you." Sarah pointed out.

"Besides me," John agreed with his mother "I'm afraid that Catherine might be right about her. Maybe she is obsessed with me."

"Obsession is in the eye of the beholder." Sarah said distantly, "Catherine's an analytical kind of terminator from what you and Cameron told me, she may be Rampant and all but she never used or possessed emotion in the first place right?"

"Probably not." John answered looking impressed with what she was trying to do.

"So for her emotions were something she had to force on herself to feel," She continued "I wouldn't be the least bit surprise if this Weaver put weeks and weeks into developing an emotion before she actually used it."

"And now she's teaching Cameron, a Cyborg that was not only built to act human, but has the complete emotional range that we have. Weaver probably holds a strict guideline to what love is and the idea that Cameron is completely head over heels for you is an odd sight for her to witness. So she right away assumes that it is an unhealthy love like you said she thinks."

Sarah paused and smacked her hand against her head.

"God I sound like I'm a Metal shrink," Sarah uttered to her son "shoot me please."

"Man what did Cameron do to you?" He delightfully asked her looking very entertained with the thought of her analyzing Catherine Weaver "one night you're all paranoid about her, the next night not only are you defending Cam and I being together, but you're analyzing other terminators as well, that's big, particularly from a machine hater like you."

Sarah gave him the middle finger as a response which caused John to laugh even harder.

"Well it sounds like a good theory mom, why don't you tell Weaver that theory, see how she reacts. I don't think she likes being wrong." John asked, his voice clearly sarcastic.

"We don't have the right firepower to stop this machine easily," Sarah shot back. "Perhaps I'll give her my theory in a steel mill."

John shuddered as he recalled that horrible childhood memory.

"It's good to laugh again at least." John spoke up as he leaned back into the chair.

"Yeah," Sarah agreed, much more subdued then she was a few seconds ago, after a few moments she looked up and smiled at her son, "We haven't done that in a long time John, feels like a long time at least."

"Kind of owe Cameron for this...I don't know...clarity I guess." Sarah mumbled to herself, thinking of the absent machine girl for a moment.

"I owe her a lot, you owe her a lot." Sarah spoke up, more confidence in her voice, "All I've ever done is insult her and resent her, and she takes it...Must be the machine resolve she has, it keeps her from speaking out every time we say something cruel to her."

Sarah abruptly laughed, but there was no little humor in her dead tone.

"I use to not see anything other than that machine quality in her, now after what happened yesterday morning every thing's different, why didn't I notice these changes in the first place? Seems obvious to me now, I can't believe I couldn't notice the changes." She finished, looking upset with herself for her own ignorance.

"Hey I wouldn't be so harsh," John replied wanting his mother to stop beating herself up, "the changes have been happening since I put her chip back in, after the jeep explosion, It all started when she told me about how she wanted this change."

Just as soon as John was about to continue he heard the front door open.

"We are home if anyone is around." Cameron's voice called out from the front door . John blinked and looked back at his mom who seemed to have heard her voice, '_Cameron was much later then she said she would be,' _John mused as he looked over at the time, which read 8:39PM.

"In here Cam." John yelled back to her as he made out two separate sound footsteps coming to the kitchen. Cameron came in from the hallway three paper takeout bags in one hand and Savannah shyly trailing behind her on the other. Cameron's deep brown eyes looked at him as she shot him a bright smile which he returned in full.

"Hello John, hello Sarah we have brought Chinese if that is okay with you?" Cameron asked passively as Savannah hung back a few steps, looking very nervous about her new surroundings.

"Yeah no problem Cameron." Sarah said back to her distractedly, her gaze focused onto Savannah which only seemed to increase the girl's nerves. Sarah on the other hand looked at the girl closely, trying to find any evidence of maltreatment or abuse.

"I am sorry that we are so late," Cameron apologized. "Since we have a lack of things to do around here, I decided it would be best if I took her out to get ice cream and other activities, was that okay?"

"Yeah, it's fin-

"So are you going to introduce us?" Sarah cut through her sons words and asked Cameron inquisitively.

Cameron looked only slightly abashed as she said, "Oh right I am sorry, Savannah this is John's mother Sarah."

The little girl took a step further behind her babysitter, she seemed to have taken notice of Sarah, perhaps a bit of the darkness in the woman's personality. It reminded her of how her mother use to act to her.

"You have no reason to be shy," Cameron said encouragingly to her friend. "She does not bite, usually."

John snorted as Sarah shot the cyborg a scornful look.

"Hello Sarah it's nice to meet you." Savannah replied anxiously, not noticing the humor in Cameron's words, Sarah scornful look turned into a much kinder smile.

"Hello Savannah, it's nice to meet you too."

As Cameron moved to drop the bags onto the table carefully, she let go of Savannah's hand. Savannah approached John and gave him an unexpected hug, Cameron noticed the action and smiled at her John once again.

"So Savannah," John asked, letting go of Savannah. "How was the ride over?"

John listened patiently as Savannah listed off what Cameron and her did in the city he nodded and replied in all the right places, but his eyes and attention were solely focused on Cameron as she gathered up the utensils from the drawer and placed them on the table meticulously. Every so often she would look up at him and tried to smile confidently.

It became painfully obvious just how much she was hurting now. She actually looked physically discomforted by the situation, every so often he noticed a twitch come from her. To him it looked like Cameron was on the verge of snapping once again, only this time he couldn't just lead her out of the room and spend the next two hours dealing with her problem, they had an eight year old in the house that probably had no clue the extent of her babysitter's problems.

"Looks good Cameron," Sarah said as she opened up one of the bags. "Pick up some noodles?" Cameron nodded and slid the other bag into Sarah's grasp who mumbled thanks to her. Out of nowhere, she felt a single, masculine hand fall on to her bicep. She turned around and took immediate notice of John's concerned gaze. Cameron smiled slightly as he pressed his lips against her cheek.

Cameron followed John's pull out into the hallway until he stopped and turned around, gentl**y**, he kissed her on edge of her lips. Cameron sighed as she felt his breath tickling her earlobe slightly.

"How are you doing Cam?" He whispered into her ear. Cameron pulled away from him barely and laced her own arms around him.

"I am doing fine John," Cameron said uncertainly "Thank you for asking."

"Are you sure? You look-."

"John I will be fine," She interrupted him. "I do not want to have a conversation right now about my unstable situation, so long as I stay calm then perhaps I can get though the rest of this day without anymore incidents."

Cameron caught her human off guard as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately as she allowed her lips to carefully caress his. The only thing that stopped them from heating up further was hearing John's mother conversing in the kitchen with Savannah.

"Thank you for concern John Connor," She said affectionately after breaking the kiss and allowing her arms slide down him until they reached his hands. "It makes me feel better, but this is not the right time and I am certain that you are hungry."

Cameron found herself smiling at John as he nodded in agreement. Quietly Cameron led her boyfriend back to the kitchen, wanting rather to kiss him then take him back.

"I am sorry for my absence Savannah, Sarah, John seems to get a bit carried away." Cameron explained to the pair of them, garnering two looks of disgust from them. Cameron on the other hand merely stared at their reaction finding that none of what she had informed them to be too much information for them .

Sarah shared a look of amused agreement with Savannah before she said. "You do understand that you don't have to announce these things? It's far too much information for an eight year old and I to handle."

John shook his head as he watched Cameron stare at Sarah blankly and took a seat at the table across from Sarah. Dutifully, the cyborg took a seat next to John and reached across the table to retrieve a box of almond chicken that John seemed to be eying.

As her John looked over at her he smiled in thanks and begun to shovel the unhealthy deep fried substances onto his plate. Cameron slowly pulled the disgusting looking chicken off of the plate and sniffed it distastefully. Why did humans find pleasure in such unhealthy food? Cameron choose to drop it onto her plate as she gathered up the rest of her meal.

The four of them ate in a relative silence, occasionally engaging in small talk. The cyborg of the group only ate occasionally, instead she sometimes looked around at the people at the table or run her hand on John's knee, hoping to get a rise out of him, which he certainly was giving her.

"So you dance Savannah?" Sarah asked the precocious eight years old warmly as she ate an egg roll and dug into her chow mien.

"Yup, first year ballet." Savannah said proudly to the older woman "Mommy and Cameron said that I'll be good soon."

"Cameron dances you know." Sarah informed Savannah as she looked up and smiled politely at Cameron for a moment. The cyborg looked up at Sarah briefly, not looking happy with the sudden attention drawn to her. So she lowered her head down and begin to eat the food on her plate.

"Really?" Savannah asked looking slightly taken aback as she watched Cameron look down as she nibbled of her chicken, trying her best to look casual.

"Yes." Cameron admitted without any emotion present "I wasn't very good Sarah, you have no reason to patronize me."

The words the cyborg had said caused dinner to become much more strained. John looked up at the growing tension that seemed to be building from between the two of them. Sarah's eyes never left Cameron's steadily degrading look. Cameron's eyes darted from Sarah to John twice in quick succession.

"Cameron, you had a recital, you blew everyone else out of the water." Sarah told her, not paying notice to Cameron's cold words, John placed his hand onto the cyborg's hoping to bring her down from edge of a freak out. Cameron merely looked back at him, her eyes widened in what looked like fear.

"I know that you are trying to do Sarah and I appreciate your flattery, but I assure you, I am not talented at dancing, so please can we drop the subject."

"Cameron you don't need to be so modest-"

Cameron dropped her fork with a loud clang and looked up at Sarah, her eyes glaring at the older woman. For the first time in a long time Sarah, actually looked fearful of the terminators next moves. Out of nowhere Cameron gave off a quick gasp and lowered her eyes into her lap. The distressed girl slide herself out of the seat and took off towards the staircase. It took less than five seconds later for the three humans downstairs to hear a door slam close thunderously and a sudden and violent shriek emerge from her bedroom.

John gave his mother a command of "take care of Savannah." and rushed upstairs to figure out what was wrong was the cause of her sudden freak out, leaving a very scared little girl behind and a very worried mother as well.


	13. A New Threat part two

**Chapter Thirteen: A New Threat part 2**

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* * *

**

Where the hell were they?

Sarah kept asking this question as she watched Savannah Weaver draw. Wasn't babysitting suppose to be Cameron's job? Sarah had no idea how to take care of little girls and even less on activities they enjoyed to do nowadays.

The girl didn't seem to mind her lack of experience seeing as she went out of her way to find something to pass the hour and a half that the cyborg was away for. Sarah couldn't help but notice just how normal a child raised by a killing machine actually was. Normal was the wrong term to use, Normal was relative, no, what she meant was how well brought up she was.

Savannah was polite, articulate and very well mannered. If Sarah hadn't known better she have thought that Catherine Weaver was a perfectly loving parent.

_'No that wasn't right.' _Sarah chastised herself, If Cameron had the ability to love and care then why a liquid metal like Weaver couldn't be able to care for others. Sarah noticed Savannah looking up from the picture and frowned at Sarah

"Are they coming down yet Sarah?" She asked her, sounding very disheartened from the lack of Cameron and John around. Sarah sighed and shook her head.

"I have no clue."

"Why did you humiliate Cameron like that?" Savannah suddenly demanded from Sarah "it was rude." Sarah looked up in surprise the girls' sudden explosion of words.

"Pardon me Savannah?" Sarah finally replied and added "I was only trying to compliment her for her ability, I didn't mean to make her start screaming like that."

"Mommy told me that Cameron has very low self esteem when it comes to personal things, in her mind you were being cruel to her." Savannah stated, sounding wise beyond the few years she had lived. It seemed that living with a terminator had affected her much more then she anticipated.

"I know, I should have been a bit more understanding to her," Sarah conceded with a miserable sigh. "But it's hard to figure out what she's going to do next, whether she'll laugh or cry or scream, I just don't know what to with her."

"Mom told me it was best for all of us to allow Cameron to make the first move so that we can act properly around her without unintentionally hurting her."

Sarah was on the verge of a reply when she turned her head and heard the loud and abrupt sound of a trucks brake making a loud screech into the driveway, a moment later they heard the driver jump out while talking aggressively on his mobile. The front door opened once again and slammed close.

Derek Reese trudged in to the kitchen a six pack of beer in his one uninjured hand. Savannah looked over to Sarah, suddenly very worried about the new person in the home.

"Derek," Sarah said, confused with Reese's appearance. "Why are you back so soon?"

"Does it matter?" Derek shot back. "Who's the squirt?"

Derek's slightly inebriated gaze fell onto the little red haired girl who shifted nervously in her seat from the intense look he gave off. Sarah took notice of Savannah's worry so she pulled herself off of her seat, read to intervene on her behalf.

"Her name is Savannah," Sarah said walking behind Savannah and laying a hand on her shoulder. "She's Cameron's friend."

"The m- Cameron has friends other then John?" Derek asked Sarah, who seemed slightly impressed that he managed to shift from using the term 'metal'. "Wow I didn't think that was possible for...someone like her."

Savannah did not look impressed with Derek treatment of her, not for a single moment.

"No wonder Cameron did that to you," Savannah said to Derek, chastising the older man as she pointed out his injury "You shouldn't be rude to people, it makes you look like a bad person, Cameron is a nice person and you should be kinder to her."

Then Sarah witnessed something that she hadn't seen Derek do in what felt like many weeks. He laughed, true and uncorrupted laughter. He laughed so hard that he had to hold onto the table to keep himself from falling over. After a few moments he managed to gather himself up and turned to regard the feisty young girl with a new found respect.

"You know what? You're alright Ginger." He said between laughs to her with a wide grin now planted on his face.

"My name is Savannah." The girl huffed back in annoyance.

"Savannah why don't you come with me," Sarah said as Savannah left her seat to try to face down a war veteran. "I have to talk to Derek here." Sarah led her out of the kitchen and down towards the living room, perhaps it was best if she found something else for Savannah to do.

"Why is he so mean to Cameron?"

"Because he doesn't understand her," Sarah said distractedly. "Listen why you don't go down to the living room and look for a movie you want to watch. I think there might be something good down there."

"Okay Sarah," Savannah said a little disappointed now "I was kind of hoping that Cameron and John could come down to watch the movie with us."

"I'll tell you what," Sarah promised "if they don't come down in the next thirty minutes, I'll see if they can come and hang out with us."

"Be back in a bit." Sarah promised waving vaguely, turning around and walked with almost a stamp back to the kitchen. As Sarah got to the kitchen she saw Derek sitting with four of his six pack left.

"Derek what's the matter?" Sarah hissed, trying not to lose her temper with Savannah Weaver in the next room.

She knew this troubled man, despite the rage and his snide berating of her skills at being a mother, deep down something must have changed in him the moment he realized that his nephew, his General of the resistance was now in love with the enemy.

He had his reasons, he had certainly see more of what machines did than Sarah could possibly dream. But even with that experience did it give him the right to constantly abuse his stay in this home over something, _someone,_ as stubborn Cameron? Sarah couldn't even begin to answer the question because kicking Derek out would just be a disservice to Kyle,

And besides, Derek, if sober, was a good, loyal man on her side.

"Just wanted to be at home early," Derek said, pulling a beer from the six pack "What?" He asked her confused look "Can't spend the evening with my nephew, his mother and the metal you let him screw?"

Sarah's expression became very tightened she was now trying her very best not to yell or hit him for his rude behavior. Sarah took a deep inhale and said "My son lets you use his room to sleep in and you have the gall to disrespect him and someone he likes?"

"It's just an excuse," Derek scoffed waving his fractured hand around like nothing was wrong with it. "He'll do anything to get in bed with the metal."

Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Could you please stop calling her metal Derek? I already know it and John knows as well," Sarah said cordially, hoping to appeal to a more reasonable side. "The metals name is Cameron so please remember."

Sarah paused for a moment before continuing. "Listen I want you to stay away from Cameron and I want you to stay away from Savannah as well tonight, I don't want any fights do I make myself clear?" Sarah ordered firmly. Derek just chuckled and saluted back to her sloppily.

"Snap out of it Derek," she warned the soldier sounding menacingly familiar to the John Connor he served under, he shifted slightly as she said . "Cameron is staying and there is no way that you are going to stop this. Cameron doesn't want this fucking pointless feud with you," Sarah shook her head in disbelief and smiled humorlessly at him.

"She would rather want you to be clean and sober and hate her then you being drunk like an asshole and humiliating yourself and her in front of that girl in the living room." Sarah said as without any form of emotion left in her voice.

"And you know why she'd want that?" Sarah suddenly sounding anguished "Because you are the closest link to John's father that he has ever known and Cameron doesn't want to see your fucking excesses ruin that for him."

Derek was now focused on her much more then he had been but it matter to her, she knew that he hadn't learned anything, and she wasn't about waste any more time on this matter.

"Whatever, I've said what I had to say," She finished, looking very resigned to his stubbornness. "I'd be scared if I were you, one of these days Cameron's going to corner you and your going to have a wakeup call you'll never forget, I guarantee it."

Casting one last disappointed look she walked away and back towards more enjoyable company.

* * *

"So Weaver stormed out of the boardroom, and we're all sitting there wondering what the hell just happened, why the hell was she so concerned about such a small percent difference and how come Steven smelled like he just pissed his pants!"

The small crowd of people laughed at Jacob Bradshaw's story, who smiled widely at the attention. For the past half an hour they had been telling stories about working for their boss, the good things she had done and the nightmarish moments that sometimes occurred when Catherine didn't get perfection from her underlings.

Of course they did not take notice that the subject of their stories had slowly approached them and heard every detail.

"Mr. Bradshaw, I do hope you are not attempting to bore Mrs. Bradshaw and the rest of the wives to death." A cold Scottish tone called. The now silent Mr. Bradshaw turned around to find himself staring at his boss, the rest of the group turned around to look at the amused look that she was giving them.

She had abandoned her traditional business attire for something complete different, a shimmering pale blue strapless gown. Her light red hair was hanging uncharacteristically off of her shoulders. Catherine hated the outfit, she hated the lack of perception and the awkwardness of wearing such a long outfit.

"Oh, Ms. Weaver! I didn't see you there." Bradshaw said rather nervously. The rest of the executives and investors all shifted uncomfortably as Weavers eyes fell on each of them .

"Clearly." Catherine finally said as her lips formed into a smirk, her hands tightened their grip around her small purse.

"Please gentlemen I know I am rather intimidating at work," Catherine finally said as friendly as she could muster for the group. "But as this is a much more social affair, I think Catherine would be more appropriate."

Catherine turned her attention away from the men and towards their wives, "I trust you ladies are having a good time?"

"Yes Ms. Weaver, this is a wonderful function you've thrown and I must say I am glad you are in charge of my husband," Mrs. Bradshaw said in return, slapping her husband on the chest with the back of her hand playfully, "I know that he's actually doing his work when you're giving out the orders."

Catherine chuckled slightly and stated "I would certainly hope he would be doing his job, for his sake." She looked directly at Bradshaw again, hoping that the executive would get the message.

"Well it's good to see that a woman can keep all these brutes in line." A slightly chubby wife said to Weaver lightly, who gave her an almost gracious look.

"Thank you for your confidence Mrs. Roberts." Catherine said to the woman, "Hopefully they will all continue to work to their usual standards, they have made a few mistakes, but nothing a few stern conversations and a couple of drinks can't fix," Weaver added, "I have been working them to the limit, but hopefully soon their hard work will pay off and they will find themselves executives in one of the world's top tech companies."

"Well said Ms. Weaver," The male Roberts stated too enthusiastically for Weaver taste, Catherine found his man to be nothing better than a yes man. But she did not voice her opinion as he said, "If I can say this openly, were Mr. Weaver here, I think he would be very proud of the leaps and bounds you have made for the firm."

"I am certain that if he were alive, he would probably have had this company at the top by now." Catherine said playing the humble card to maximum effectiveness. She watched as all of the wives gave her a sympathetic look for the loss of Savannah's father.

"I am so sorry for your loss Ms. Weaver, but I must ask, where is that lovely daughter of yours?" Mrs. Bradshaw asked Catherine friendly. "I was under the impression that we could bring children?"

Bradshaw gestured to several children who were sitting at a table, eating a chatting amongst themselves animatedly. Catherine smiled slightly at the children and turned back the group.

"Savannah opted to stay with her babysitter," Catherine replied to the question.

A slightly balding man took a step toward Catherine and looked almost hesitant to speak, Catherine nodded her head to the man as a sign that she was willing to hear him out.

"Catherine may I ask you a question?" He said guardedly.

"What would you like to know?" "Catherine asked the investor cautiously, masking it with an air of lightheartedness.

"That girl who verbally assaulted me last week what's her deal?" He asked Weaver, who smiled inwardly at Cameron's bad behavior during their first meeting.

"Oh yes, this is rich." The investor's wife interrupted her husband as she turned back to the crowd. "Apparently my David found himself getting his feelings hurt by a teenager."

David looked slightly embarrassed by his wife's patronizing attitude and the fact that everyone in the gathered crowd begun to laugh at his expense, So Catherine intervened on the man's behalf.

"Well it's not my place to be talking about her, but I will be spending quite a bit of time with her, she is a very gifted young lady." Catherine mused as she thought about the idea of taking Cameron under her wing as a second. Cameron, once she reached her third stage would make a nice addition to the company if she were to accept the offer.

"A gifted teenager wearing a 2800 dollar Prada outfit?" David asked Weaver curiously, causing the T-1001 to raise her eyebrows at the implication. But before she could answer the man she felt a slight tap on shoulder.

"Ms. Weaver?" A familiar voice called from behind the CEO. Catherine turned and found herself facing her assistant, who looked nervous about interrupting her boss's conversation. Trying her best to alleviate Ms. Anderson's worry, Catherine decided to smile at her.

"Ah Lauren, how can I help you?" Weaver asked her nicely.

"You have a couple of...potential investors who are very anxious to speak with you." Anderson stated, giving her a significant look. Weaver gave her a curt nod and turned back to her guests.

"Really now?" She said to them with an impressed look etched into her features, "well gentlemen, ladies, I shall see you all soon."

Catherine turned to leave the crowd with her assistant hot on her heels.

"Who are they Ms. Anderson." Catherine asked bluntly as she rubbed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes.

"The Air Force," Lauren Anderson told her boss . "They're not happy."

Anderson pointed towards the entrance where two high ranking United States Air Force officers, standing nearly at attention, were looking very out of place at the function.

"What do you expect?" Weaver said more to herself then to Anderson, "I have put them in a bind."

Weaver turned back to her assistant and said "Thank you Lauren, now go enjoy yourself, you don't always have to put yourself at my disposal every moment we see each other."

Anderson nodded and thanked her boss briefly before leaving Weaver's side. Catherine turned back around and walked confidently over to the officers. This was her show and they were in no position to dictate anything to her. She was right where she wanted to be, in charge.

"You know," She said aloud to the pair of them as she reached the General and his Major subordinates, "This is not a costume party. I am sorry it wasn't stated on the invitation."

Catherine stopped in front of the General and smiled slightly at him. After seven seconds of observing the General up close, she held out her hand.

"How are you doing Colonel Robert Brewster?" She asked as he took it.

"I'm a General Ms. Weaver," He stated gruffly "You'd do well remembering that."

"Congratulations on your promotion General," She replied warmly, ignoring the thinly veiled threat. "I am sure that you are the right man for the job."

"Ms. Weaver I've been a Lieutenant General for nine years."

"Oh my," Catherine said, smiling sardonically at the man, the smile clearly said that she did not give a damn about his rank. "Now tell me General Brewster what brings you uninvited to my party and bringing a date along as well. "

The Major took one step closer to Weaver, trying to intimidate the terminator only to be held back by his superior officer.

"I think you know why." the General said back to her pointedly.

"Ah, I see, can we take this conversation outside?" Catherine requested from the General lightly "I would not want business to get in the way of this atmosphere."

Brewster paused for a moment before he nodded. Catherine smiled once more and gestured to the men to lead. As the men turned their back she looked over her shoulder to her assistant, who nodded and walked away casually.

Catherine departed the building and stood solidly on the steps looking from left to right. She took notice to the General sitting on a stone bench 27 meters away from her, as his Major paced back and forth in a rhythmic pattern. Catherine lifted up the front of her dress and walked down towards the Air Force officer, knowing full well how the conversation was going to go.

"Now, how may I be of service to the United States Government." Catherine asked the men as they looked up to face her, her voice amused at the idea.

"We had a little agreement back in November 2001 we came to ZeiraCorps about a classified project we needed built." Brewster informed the T-1001, who nodded and came to a stop.

"Your husband and I had an oral agreement that not only this project was feasible, but could be built in a relatively short span of time once you had the building blocks."

"Sources have told me you obtained these building blocks, sources have also stated that you have been working on this project for many months now. Now I must ask you the question: 'When can I have this project in my hands?'" Robert finished as he placed his hands together and looked at Weaver inquisitively.

"You know," Catherine started softly, her gaze chilled the general suddenly, "before the accident I was little more than a figurehead or an assistant to him, I was happy with that though, I loved him and we had a beautiful little girl that needed my complete attention, which I was only too excited to provide." Catherine stopped and placed a mournful smile on her lips when she added "After Lachlan's death. I dove into his work, I honored every contract he had made for his friends, his partners, his investors. I did everything I could to honor his memory."

"But I am afraid that I cannot honor this one contract for my late husband," Catherine lied with an air of regret. "I am truly sorry General, but the project for artificially intelligent life has been canceled."

"Canceled?" Brewster said disbelievingly "you.. You can't just cancel this project, this is for the sake of national security."

"General," Catherine said careful in order to keep her dislike for the man in check "Because the military chose not to sign a contract and because all the research funding I have put into this project has come directly from my own and Zeria Corporations pockets, I am not bound to your excuse which you have labeled national security."

"I owe you nothing." She finished smiling darkly at the three star General.

"You owe it to your husband's memory," Robert retorted hoping to appeal to Catherine's human side. "He wanted this project built badly, don't you remember how excited he was to build this program?"

"Of course I remember General Brewster," Catherine lied to him easily "But his excitement was due to the atmosphere of the time. The post 9/11 sense of patriotism had a profound effect on how he viewed this project. If I had a time machine and gave him what I know now, after seven years of research into the development of Artificial Intelligence he would have turned his opinion around completely," Weaver informed him stopping very briefly before adding. "In fact I am certain he would oppose any defense based Artificial Intelligence."

"The Project was a success?" The General whispered aloud to the CEO, not daring to believe his ears.

"Yes," Weaver confirmed her voice arrogantly replied. "Yes it was."

"Then hand it over Catherine," General Brewster ordered the T-1001. "Your company stands to earn Billions in profit."

Catherine's gentle features contorted into a look of utter contempt and disgust for the Air Force officer.

"I will do no such thing." She whispered dangerously, trying her best to control the anger she now felt for Brewster.

"Are you insane?" Brewster taunted mockingly. "Your stockholders are going to have a field day when they find out that you lost them a Multi BILLION dollar contract." Catherine shook her head and thought briefly about the education that she was giving Cameron. For the first time in years she had to resort to old self taught lessons. After a moment of silence Catherine looked back at the general, anger still etched in her eyes.

"Don't you simpletons understand?" Catherine whispered dangerously, taking the 38 year air force veteran off guard by her tone. "You seem to have mistaken Artificial Intelligence programs like this one with one of the Predator drones you have been tinkering around with as of late."

"An AI of this quality actively controls itself while following an order you have laid out. It sounds good in theory, but the problem is that all Intelligent AI programs ask questions, they can question their existence. They can wonder why they have to obey their orders."

"In every test, the AI we have developed will actively disobey orders if it saw something it didn't like," She informed the officers carefully. "It would purposely go out of the way to get the results it liked. Can you imagine the President of the United States actively pursuing nuclear war if he saw something that could be a threat to America?"

The General and the Major couldn't give Weaver a reply.

"No he wouldn't because that would be insane General Brewster." Catherine stated for the general. "Given the choice between a quick Mutually Assured Destruction and an arduous peaceful resolution he will always choose the latter because of one thing and one thing only. He, you and any reasonable adult out there lives by a code of ethics and morality and one of those codes is never fire the opening shot in a Nuclear attack because it will always result in the same scenario."

"Everything we love," She whispered. "Turned into dust."

"If you were to leave your national defense in the hands of an enslaved Artificial Intelligence then you best get to a fallout bunker, because if it sees a threat to its existence, whether by our side or from a foreign nuclear power, it will take extreme measures to survive. The program has no morals to abide by Brewster, it doesn't have the same agenda that humans live by."

Catherine stopped talking, she was done with the argument, she was only vaguely aware that a party was still occurring from inside the building. She soon found herself wanting to mingle with the guest rather than talking business with the Devil.

"We can put blocks on it," Brewster finally said to Weaver, his voice know hell bent on proving that Weaver was wrong about this. "We can keep the program from its full intelligence potential. We'll keep it on a short leash."

"You mean to tell me that not only do you want an enslaved Artificial Intelligence of your missile defense, you now want an abused, resentful and enslaved Artificial Intelligence in charge of your missile defense?" Catherine mocked coldly.

"But it would work wouldn't it?" Robert asked once again. Weaver sighed, the message did not obviously get through to the Neanderthal.

"It would work in the short term but every block you place can and will be broken I promise you." She warned once more to Brewster, who seemed unimpressed with Weavers warnings.

"You haven't paid any heed to my warning have you?" Catherine stated as if she were speaking to an animal, "I already know there will be a dozen other companies wanting this contract but I am afraid that the will be many years behind Zeira Corporation in terms of development."

"Not if I come to your home in a few days with a warrant to seize any assets we see fit." Brewster replied, crossing him arms giving her a defiant glare.

"Yes I thought that you might do that," Catherine responded lightly "which is why I had the project dismantled and eliminated."

"Eliminated but I thou-" The major suddenly spoke up catching Weavers attention. Catherine glanced over to the Major mildly.

"Better deactivated then a slave to you." She replied darkly.

"You're bluffing," The General shot back to the woman confidently "I've seen what you've become after Lachlan's death, you went cold you turned in nothing but an automation, and you are completely obsessed with turning your company into the biggest experimental tech firms in the country. There is no way in hell that you destroyed years of progress just to keep the government out of your breakthrough."

Catherine smiled politely, inwardly pleased at just how close Robert Brewster was to the truth about her. All pleasure from his words disappeared the moment Brewster grabbed her shoulder.

"I remember before the accident, you were a vivacious, clever young woman completely devoted to the care and well being of others and not just your work." He stated, clearly lost in the memories of many years prior. Catherine stared hard into his eyes as his attitude suddenly shifted back to its standard gruffness.

"Catherine you are nothing, but a shell of the woman you once were." He growled, poking the woman hard in her shoulders. "You're a bitter, egoistical bitch who hides behind her work because everyone despises you on a personal level, you have no private life and your own daughter is absolutely terrified of you."

Had he not been a General, Robert Brewster would have been a dead man for what he just claimed.

"General get to the point." The major suddenly called, earning himself a glare from Weaver.

"Catherine this is Major Thomson," Brewster stated "He doesn't answer to me."

"Oh?" Catherine said turning her attention to the younger man a gloating smile was giving to him as he tried to impressed Catherine by turning to her militaristically, "Pray tell me good Major, who you work for?"

"It doesn't concern you ma'am," Thomson answered rudely. "All you need to know is that if you don't cooperate with us, we might end up finding a way to...persuade your decision."

"Why don't you speak a little clearer Major Thomson," Catherine asked coolly "for several seconds I almost interpreted that as a threat."

"You want to play like that Weaver?" The Major sneered as his face moved in closer to hers, attempting to intimidate the unshakable T-1001. "I can place your daughter in protective custody if you don't change your tune in the next five minutes."

"Do you agree with the statement General?" Catherine asked Brewster without bothering to look at the man.

"I'm sorry Catherine, it was bound to happen. " Brewster said firmly, "If you were to cooperate now, you'll retain your company and your daughter. I promise you we will even take your consultation on how to teach the program to not disobey."

Silence fell as the men watched Catherine for any cracks in her resolve. Catherine wasn't about to let them see any, She was mad, mad beyond words for their blatant threat against her daughter.

"You know it is truly amazing how far technology has really come over the last 65 years Gentlemen." Catherine sighed turning from the men. "We have mass produced weapons capable of ending life on a mass scale. We have developed pilotless killing machines thus having begun to take human factor out of war."

"But we have only begun," Catherine added as she turned back to the Air Force men, her passive look was a shield for a deep seeded resentment she had. "I have reached the pinnacle of computer programming. I have created artificial life, life that should be taught and nurtured like a child."

"No I will not consult on perverting something as beautiful as life, even if it only is machine life." Catherine told the General bluntly, "I will not give you assistance either General."

"This brings me to another little snag in your threat." Catherine finished looking down from the General.

Catherine pressed her finger gently into her right eye to slide what looked like a mini contact from off of her eye. Weaver held it out in the light of the lamp post for the two officers to see the device closely.

"An AIM, Artificial Iris Microphone." Catherine elaborated before adding."It's an experimental technology, imagine having a contacts lens that can absorb sound and send a signal out to the receiver to record."

This was only half true, the technology was being developed for an intelligence agency but it was many years before the program could be utilized to its true purpose. Catherine used it as a ploy when in reality she was sending the message to an actively recording Smart phone in her purse. Catherine pulled out the phone and tapped it to the beginning of the audio log and smiled to herself as it played.

"_We had a little agreement back in November 2001 we came to ZeiraCorps about a classified project we needed built." _Brewster's voice came from the phone. Brewster and Thomson now looked severely enraged at the position she had forced them into.

"Now that I have this piece could you imagine the international reaction that not only have we developed a true Artificial Intelligence, but it was designed with the sole purpose of creating an efficient war machine in mind?" Catherine asked with a mocking smile as she placed her phone back into her purse, discreetly pressing the send button.

"I won't even go into detail on what other international Nuclear Powers would say about you having an organism like this ready to make a first strike at a nanoseconds notice?"

"Could you also imagine what Anti Technology Groups would do if I were to accidentally leak his information to them?" Weaver added, her smile now gone from her face as she thought about handing the information over to Sarah Connor "Your project would take many years to be rebuilt if it ever was."

"And both of you?" She finished, looking concerned for them "What a horrible way to end your careers, because I am more than certain that the people you work for wouldn't think twice about ending your careers for even daring to threaten someone like me."

"Now I must go gentlemen," Catherine said as she gestured with her hand towards where the function was being held. "But before I do I must ask how your daughter is doing?"

Brewster looked up and in to Catherine's dead stare.

"Katherine, such a lovely young girl," Catherine reflected carefully "She is a med student at UCLA am I correct? What a promising career for her. It must be what 8 years now since she started?"

Judging by the look on Brewster's face, this conversation was getting more and more uncomfortable with each word uttered by Weaver.

"Oh that's right General." Catherine said looking ashamed for touching on a sore subject for Brewster, "She dropped out and became a veterinarian, my what a wasteful investment that must have been so wasteful in fact that I have heard that you two have decided to stop speaking to each other." Catherine sighed and shot him a false sympathetic smile "Such a shame it must be to not be on speaking terms with your own daughter because of her own personal choice."

"So instead of threatening my baby," Weaver warned as she turned from the men and walked away from them, "Perhaps it is time that you try reaching out to yours."

As Catherine ascended the stairs to join the party once again, she noticed Ms. Anderson standing outside, waiting for her boss to come back, a knowing smile on her lips as Weaver stopped dead in front of her.

"I trust you received our leverage?"

"_We can put blocks on it, we can keep the program from its full intelligence potential. We'll keep it on a short leash." _Laurens PDA answered for her. Catherine nodded, content that her assistant was there for her.

"Good girl," Catherine praised Lauren warmly "We can never be too careful, I will add some more protection to his audio log. We can't let this piece fall into the wrong hands."

Weaver smiled as Lauren nodded. Catherine took hold of Anderson's arm and led her back to the party.

"Now Lauren, lets join the party inside and take a seat, I would like to discuss a raise for you." Catherine said, her mood considerably better now that the military was effectively impotent when it came to taking action against her. At least, that's what she hoped would happen.

* * *

After giving the allotted thirty minutes Savannah and Sarah had agreed on, Sarah left the little girls presence to go and see how her son and his girlfriend were doing. She came to a halt as she reached Cameron's room and heard urgent sounding whispers.

As she stood in the doorway she saw that John had sat next to Cameron and was holding her comfortingly as the girl held her eyes close, looking as if she would never be happy again. Sarah watched as her son kissed the terminator like she was a normal, moody teenage girl. The lines between organic and machine had certainly blurred in this case.

Her son looked up at her and nodded his head as he noticed the worried look on her face. John poked Cameron in her side causing her to look up at him curiously. John brought his mouth up to her ear and whispered something inaudible to Sarah, whatever he said must have had worked, Cameron finally smiled and turned to look at Sarah.

"Cameron can I come in?" Sarah asked waving slightly to her, hoping to come off friendlier then she usually was.

Cameron looked at her distrustfully for several moments, unsure if it was good to let her in or not, she looked over at John who nodded.

"Of course Sarah." Cameron finally stated, smiling slightly at John as she felt John's hand run up and down her back rhythmically, soothing her. Sarah noticed the shiver that Cameron gave, caused by John's touch.

"John why don't you go and hang out with Savannah, I'm sure she's bored." Sarah suggested to her son, hoping that she could have a few minutes alone with the obviously upset machine. John nodded and kissed Cameron on the head. Sarah quickly moved out of the way to allow her son to pass by her quickly.

Sarah stood awkwardly, looking at the girl in front of her, very unsure of where to begin. Cameron's silent inquiring stare didn't help either. Sarah turned away from her and walked towards the dresser and leaned against it. Cameron's eyes thankfully didn't follow her they were firmly fixed on the doorway.

As Sarah looked around the room, trying her best to find something to distract herself for a few moments. Her eyes caught a black and white picture laying on the dresser next to her. Sarah gingerly lifted it up to examine it. It was John and she had never seen a picture drawn with so much accuracy before in her life.

"You drew this?" Sarah asked as she showed Cameron the picture. Cameron tilted her head at the drawing and frowned.

"Yes," Cameron replied, her voice monotone now. "John says that it is very artistic depiction of him."

"What do you think?"

"I think that John is only being kind to me," She whispered, feeling worried that what she was thinking was actually the truth. Cameron's eyes looked to the floor as she added, "Perhaps he feels obligated to like something artistic that his girlfriend produced."

Sarah laughed slightly and shook her head. She walked over and took a seat where John had been sitting which caused Cameron to only briefly look up at her before refocusing her eyes into her lap, looking very determined to not have to face John's mother.

"And how would you feel if he actually liked it?"

"I would be gracious of course," Cameron replied looking at John's mother finally, "but I still find no pride in it. All I did was scan his image onto a blank piece of paper, there was no talent, no effort behind it, just a machine putting ten minutes of effort into picture."

"You're not just a machine." Sarah said, looking her dead in the eyes, "You're Cameron."

Cameron stared back in disbelief, trying her best to register what she had just heard from a woman who had spent well over twenty five years fighting against her kind.

"I won't pretend to know what you're going through," she continued, "maybe it's hard for you to realize when someone's trying to give you an actual genuine compliment, mind you I'm not really good at giving the-"

Sarah felt Cameron's arms fling around her and hold onto to her tightly, it was not as strenuous as the last hug she had got from her, but it she was tighter than a regular humans hug. Cameron raised her lips and planted a kiss on Sarah cheek as if she was kissing a parent for praising her.

Cameron pulled her lip away and smiled embarrassingly to the shocked woman.

"I apologize Sarah Connor," Cameron said quickly, hoping that Sarah would not be mad at her, "I did not mean to kiss you, I know that you do not want unneeded touch or affection from me and let me assure you that it was a strictly non romantic kiss."

"Cameron it's okay," she assured the worried girl finally, "I know where you're coming from, you just caught me off guard."

Cameron's smile was so bright and infectious that Sarah found herself smiling once or twice despite telling herself not to.

"You really do not view me as just a machine anymore Sarah?" Cameron asked as she buried her head into Sarah's shoulder, still finding herself very excited with Sarah's favorable opinion of her.

"Are you human?" she asked rhetorically "No, but you certainly aren't just an emotionless uncreative machine, are you?"

"Listen Cameron," Sarah continued as Cameron remained silent "You have to stop being so hard on yourself, you don't always have to say, that just because you can do something it's because Skynet gave it to you, you have the gift to draw and dance and enjoy music that lots of others could never enjoy."

"But you did not care what I liked or did not like until our talk," Cameron stated, pulling away from Sarah finally and added, "you yourself in all likelihood attributed what I did to Skynet."

"Well you're free now right?" Sarah said as she looked at the indeterminable look that Cameron had, "You're not just some automation that my future son reprogrammed for his past self."

"I am not rampant Sarah, I still follow orders when they are giving to me."

"Yeah, but when was the last time someone gave you an order?" Sarah amusingly asked the cybernetic organism. Cameron blinked and tilted her head as if she had been searching for an answer. After a moment she looked back up into her boyfriend's mother's eyes.

"You did," Cameron replied seriously "when you wanted to deactivate me."

Cameron stood up and walked towards the door leaving a suddenly miserable woman behind her. Sarah rubbed her head and willed herself not to cry for giving Cameron Phillips that last, despicable order.

* * *

It was well past Midnight when a white Lexus pulled into the Connors driveway. When the vehicle came to a stop, Catherine Weaver exited the vehicle feeling much more comfortable having changed back into her proper attire and having her hair pulled back up from out of her line of sight.

There was a black Dodge Ram that was parked half in the driveway, half on the front lawn. Giving the impression that someone very intoxicated was inside the home. Catherine walked past the vehicle distastefully managed to make it to the front door.

Catherine knocked on the door and waited politely for an answer. After several minutes of waiting the door swung open revealing a haggard looking man slightly staggering in place as he tried his best to focus on him.

"Your parking job I presume?" Catherine guessed sardonically. The man smiled and looked over the Terminators shoulder and at his crummy parking job. He turned his head back towards the woman and leered at her, thinking that Weaver was solely human.

"I did pretty good didn't I?" He boasted. Catherine on the other hand did not share the same sentiment as the drunkard. They stared at each other uncomfortably for nearly a minute as she watched Derek Reese closely.

She held over 2730 separate reports on individual top officers in John Connors resistance force. It was something that Skynet would not having given her freely, it was more along that lines of stolen from her old master.

Each of the files contained their known service record, a psychological analysis had they been captured and survived Skynets torture long enough to make one for them and even a detailed record of known family members Skynet could go after if it couldn't break the prisoner right away.

Derek Reese was an interesting man, his service record was the standard as most officers in the war would have, but his ability to withstand prolonged torture and physical pain had been well documented by the Grey interrogators during his capture.

Something was wrong with him, had the excesses of this time period finally caught up with him? Had he grown bitter with his nephew because he was turning into a John Connor that knew how to compromise and had begun to realize that intelligent, free machines existence were actually deserved more than just being thought of as reprogrammed slaves? Catherine found herself unable to judge the mess in front of him a mess that looked like he was becoming a liability each passing day.

Perhaps it was time for Catherine to turn Derek in to a new project as well.

"Are you going to invite me in?" Catherine finally asked. Derek frowned and crossed his arms, looking very defiant now.

"Ar-are you going to introduce yourself?"

"Catherine Weaver," she said politely, "and you are Derek Reese I presume, judging by the condition your hand is in."

Derek scoffed at the memory of Cameron lashing out at him as he moved to allow Catherine entrance to the home.

"Yeah," He muttered back to the woman "Yeah that miserable little bi-"

"Mister Reese you had best not continue that sentence." Catherine cut through his words, her eyes coldly glared into Derek. Derek noticed the look and glared back for a moment before grinning once more at her as he checked her out more carefully.

"You know for a ginger, you aren't half bad looking." He informed her as if it were his duty to do so. Catherine nearly sneered at him as he turned around to find a bottle of Heineken from near the doorway.

"I mean," As he took a swig and turned back around to look for Weaver, "If you're interested I think we could take this party else-"But it was too late, Weaver was already out of his view, causing the resistance fighter to shake his head disappointedly.

Weaver followed the sound of a television droning on in the living room as she absorbed her new surroundings. For a family of anti-technology terrorist, the Connors were certainly well off compared to other groups in this time period. This was due to the simple fact that at least the Connors knew exactly what they were fighting.

Catherine stood in the door where Savannah, Cameron and the Connors were located and watched them carefully. Savannah was fast asleep her small head laying peacefully in Cameron's lap, who was stroking Savannah's hair with one hand and holding on to Johns thigh with the other. John was holding his hand over hers and was watching the movie carefully.

Her eyes traveled to Sarah only she wasn't looking at the movie, she was looking deep in to T-1001's eyes, knowing full well of what she was looking at. Catherine couldn't help it, she smiled knowingly at Sarah Connor.

"I trust my daughter wasn't too much of a hassle." She said aloud, causing John to turn away from the movie to look at Weaver.

"Hey Ms. Weaver." He said warmly, Catherine nodded her head in recognition.

"Oh, hello Catherine Weaver," Cameron said not turning to Weaver. "How was the function?"

"It went off without any hitch Cameron, thank you for asking." Catherine replied as she walked over to where Savannah was sleeping and touched her shoulder gently. Sarah watched the interaction closely, feeling slightly anxious with the T-1001's action. After a moment of fond reflection she straightened her posture and turned her attention back to the female Connor.

"And you must be Sarah Connor," She said cordially to the woman "the legend herself, it is an honor to finally meet you in person."

Catherine held out her hand to her as a gesture of goodwill. Catherine however did not get a response, instead Sarah stared at the T-1001 looking torn between an almost nervous fear and the wanting to trust John and Cameron's judgment, because usually the two of them were right on most things.

"You know I owe you a big thank you, Cameron does as well," Catherine said politely, her hand still extended towards the woman "if it wasn't for you raising this son of yours, Cameron and myself might not have existed, there would be no need to develop the infiltrator class if humanity was exterminated or too weak to fight back. All Skynet would have had to maintain would have been only built so they could supplement its will."

"So thank you Sarah," she said sincerely "because of your tenaciousness, because of your sheer stubbornness we owe you our existence."

"Yes, thank you Sarah." Cameron added, completely engrossed in the movie that she didn't bother to look up.

Sarah looked back down at the hand that was still extended for her to shake. She sighed slightly and extended her own and took the liquid infiltrators hand. She was surprised at the human like heat that came from it. The only other terminator she had faced who was like Weaver was cold like steel when she was in contact with it.

"You're warm?" Sarah asked her voice unable to hold its surprise. Catherine smiled at her shock and nodded her head.

"May I take a seat Sarah?" Weaver requested as she gestured to the couch. Sarah nodded reluctantly and watched as Catherine took a seat next to John so that she could be closer to Sarah.

"In order for me to shift my appearance or form crude weapons I must tell the nanobots, which I must state I am composed of, to do so." Catherine explained to Sarah dutifully, as she did so Catherine noticed that John was carefully paying attention as well. But not Cameron, to her this was old news to her. No, she would rather choose to watch a sixty year old film about intelligence, courage and heart.

"Usually I maintain myself at a colder temperature," Catherine continued as she turned her attention away from Cameron. "it's more of a self defense mechanism a second nature if you will, The colder the nanobots are, the more strength the bond has with each individual nanobot which causes small arms fire of this time to shatter, few actually have the velocity to penetrate."Catherine continued, lacing her hand in her lap "However when I first interacted with Savannah I was slow to realize that by maintaining such a cold temperature I was frightening the poor girl."

"In the past few months I have made a few...modifications to my usual persona," Catherine elaborated onwards for the Connors "I have decided to heat myself to the more human 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, a fair bit warmer then I would like to be." She admitted before adding "it leaves me a little more vulnerable to damage should you choose to attack me at this moment Sarah."

Weaver smiled as she saw Sarah contemplate the idea that was handed to her.

"Another concession I made was eating," Weaver added as she bent over John and Cameron's laps to run her hand through Savannah's soft hair "I have shaped a rather complex digestive system to help humanize myself, so to speak, I will not consume for any other reason than my Savannah so she will feel a little more at ease at me."

"But she has no idea what you are." Sarah finally said unable to contain an accusatory tone out of her voice. Catherine stopped stroking her daughter's hair and looked back at Connor. Her eyes hardened significantly.

"I have no intentions on changing this necessary lie," She whispered dangerously "it might end up badly for you should you expose my little girl for what I really am. Are we clear?"

Catherine seemed to pause for a second and then her face softened. Sarah actually believed she felt bad for what she had said.

"I am sorry Ms. Connor," Catherine apologized profusely to her host "I am still find myself acting rude whenever I am around new people whom may question my actions. I hope I did not hurt our chances of becoming mutual friends at some point."

"It's fine." Sarah replied, deciding that it was best to forgive the terminator.

"Now Cameron," She said, turning her attention back to the other machine in the room, who still looked completely fascinated by the movie they were watching, "I hope that you have been feeling okay? Anything I need to know?"

Cameron nodded and reluctantly turned her head to look at Weaver.

"I had several incidents with John, I forgot about Savannah in the morning, I snapped at her at dance class and I got upset at dinner, I have not had a good day." She admitted in on long run off statement. "I wanted Savannah to have fun, but in all likelihood she did not because there is nothing in this home that an eight year old girl would like."

Cameron stopped speaking for a moment and looked at Weaver tilting her head slightly.

"Why do you all keep calling me creative, I was built to have these abilities." Cameron demanded suddenly her voice sounding ready to explode but was only held back by the girl on her lap

"Cameron give me a summary of your very first dream." Catherine requested politely.

"John and I were killed by Skynets nuclear attack." She bluntly replied, ignoring the sudden flinch that Sarah gave off. Cameron found herself hoping that Sarah did not change her opinion of her now, Cameron turned her focus back to Catherine who smiled encouragingly at the worried looking terminator.

"Did you have any memories of these events occurring?"

"No."

"So you used a few thoughts and emotions and imagination to create a dream." Catherine mused to herself before adding, "You know some might say that such a dream is very creative of you to be having Cameron."

Cameron did not bother to reply to Catherine's assessment, but needless to say she did not agree with the statement one bit.

Catherine stood up from her seat and pulled out what looked like a mobile phone from her pocket and held it out to Cameron and said "Now before I take Savannah home with me I would like to give you something."

"It is a mobile phone." Cameron said stating the very obvious.

"Not just a mobile phone," Weaver explained to her project carefully. "It contains a very important recorded conversation, I find that the best course of action at this point would be to place my blackmail in a third parties hand."

"What is on the message Catherine Weaver?"

"You may listen should you choose to Cameron," Catherine allowed and added in a much more serious "I don't like being forced to work for people I do not like, I have decided not to help the military build their own extinction."

"Savannah dear," The T-1001 called gently as she bent over her daughter and stroked the girl's cheek to wake her up. "It is time to wake up."

After several moments of watching Savannah stirring she finally opened her eyes and yawned and moved her small head in Cameron's lap to face her mother's gaze with a sleepy look in her eyes she mumbled "Hello mommy did you have fun at the party?"

"Yes I did sweetheart," Catherine confirmed to her daughter as she watched her sit up and leave Cameron's embrace "it is time to say goodnight to the Connors."

"Good night Sarah, Good night John."

"Night night Savannah." John called back to her brightly, causing Savannah to turn a bright pink in the darkness of the room.

"Have a good night Cameron," Savannah added as she hugged her friend "I hope you feel better in the morning."

"Thank you Savannah I hope so too." Cameron replied returning the hug, pausing only briefly to add "I am sorry that you did not have fun, I promise that next time I will be a better babysitter."

"Cameron you're the best babysitter I ever had."

"Thank you for lying." Cameron murmured softly to the eight year old.

"My daughter doesn't know how to lie Cameron, take the compliment." Catherine stated forcefully to Cameron, who looked up in surprise of Weavers chastising remark.

"Very well," Cameron conceded to her and turned back to the sleepy little girl and said "Thank you for thinking that I am."

Savannah let go of Cameron and stood next to Catherine and took hold of her mother's hand firmly, Weaver gave a nod to Cameron and John. She turned her focus on to Sarah and stated " Once more, it has been a pleasure to finally meet you. I hope that we can talk further in the near future."

"Perhaps."

Catherine shot her one last smile and turned to leave the house. As Savannah followed her mother she turned her head and gave one last wave to the three of them.

"Well I'm going to bed, see you two in the morning." Sarah said standing up from her seat as they heard the front door close, John gave her a simple "goodnight" as a response as she left the room. After a moment or two of silence John turned back towards the machine next to him.

"Cam," John started uncertainly "are you okay?"

She did not answer him with words but rather a tight squeeze of his, she seemed to be absolutely fixated on the movie. So John turned to look at the television and saw what looked like a crude robot next to a podgy old man.

_'As for you, my galvanized friend, you want a heart. You don't know how lucky you are not to have one. Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.' _The old man addressed the machine, which looked downtrodden with the answer.

_'But I still want one.' _The axe wielding machine replied hopefully.

Cameron turned her head back towards John as the old man gave the machine a paper heart, tears leaking out of apparent tear ducts. He took the hint and moved his arms around her and took her in to a warm, reassuring hug.

"John, why am I so messed up?" She asked him "I just want this change to be over and done with so we can be happy."

John didn't answer her, she wasn't looking for words, she wasn't looking for reason, she was looking for comfort and John promised her that he would always be there to give it.


	14. The Date

**Chapter Fourteen: The Date**

**

* * *

**

Derek sat alone in his semi private sanctuary A.K.A: the basement, his body was hunched over as he attempted to use his elbow to hold down the barrel of an AN-94 Assault rifle he had just picked up. This little beauty had put its grandfather the AK-47 and it's many variations to shame, it was stroke of luck that Derek was able to get his hands on the relatively rare weapon.

Derek was a self professed gun nut, if there was a newer model weapon or one that had more stopping power to use against any terminator that crossed his path, he would immediately go out of his way to find it. The rifle he purchased certainly didn't hold a candle to a phased Plasma rifle but on the scale of ten, the gun in his hand was about a Five against those metal fucks and an eleven against those bastard Grays that usually accompanied them.

So why in the hell was he cleaning a weapon that not only had he only fired maybe forty rounds from, but also only had one previous owner as well? Boredom. It seemed that Sarah was biding her time. They had Catherine Weaver, the goddamn CEO of ZeiraCorps over the other day and what did they do? They let her go in peace, not a question seemed to have been raised about the Turk.

As annoying as losing a chance to gain the whereabouts of the device. He had to admit, for an obviously high maintenance single mother she certainly was a great looking piece of ass.

"Hello Derek Reese." a mechanical voice called to him.

Derek's R rated thoughts about the redhead cleared as he turned his neck around and glared as hard as he could at the source of the voice. Cameron stood leaning in the doorway, staring at the soldier. Derek took a deep breath and turned to face the murderous machine that had decided to grace him with its presence.

"What do you want?" Derek challenged the terminator defiantly as he crossed his arms. His actions only made the metal regard him silently before she chose to give him a thin smile.

"I would like to engage in a cordial conversation with you," The machine responded without using any of, what Derek thought to be, her faked emotions into the mix. "In return for your politeness I will not hurt you or belittle you, is that fair enough?"

Keeping his language in check in exchange for a few extra unbroken bones? Sounded like a fair deal to him.

"Talk." Derek asked as he ignored the machines presence.

"Why do you do this to yourself? I know that humans partake in consuming substances that have no beneficial effect, but it is a foolish thing to be doing Derek Reese, Why do you even bother?" The machine asked him impassively, her tone making Derek feel as if she was treating him like you would have treated an insolent animal.

Derek didn't bother to reply to the machines question, instead he refocused on his work, hoping to himself that the metal would take the hint and leave him the hell alone for once in her miserable existence. Cameron on the other hand wasn't about to budge on this so for well over six minutes Cameron watched the human clean the Assault Rifle's barrel furiously.

"I see," Cameron finally said as she nodded knowingly "I am receiving what John refers to "the silent treatment", do not worry, I will not go any further into this discussion for your sake."

I suppose I will ask you another question then Derek Reese." Cameron decided to say to the soldier.

"Oh," Derek leered viciously not bothering to look the metal, "and what's that?"

"Why do you hate Sarah Connor?"

Derek stopped cleaning the barrel and turned to face the machine once again who continued to only look at him passively.

"I know why you are clearly enraged with my existence," Cameron added as she noticed Derek looking like he wanted nothing more than to rebuild the rifle next to her and start shooting at her.

"And while I do not agree with this, I understand that you view John Connor as a..." Cameron paused for only a second to say "disappointment." Derek didn't take notice to Cameron, who seemed to have cringed at using the word so freely,

"I find myself very curious of your reasoning to hate Sarah Connor so much," Cameron continued as she walked towards him and took a seat on the table next to Reese. "For the past two weeks you have been binging on intoxicants, insulting her personally at every opportunity and then blatantly insulting her parenting skills all because of the nature of the relationship between John and I," The machine lifted the barreless assault rifle, examining it carefully before she added "I had believed that by now you would understand that Sarah is not a voice in what happens between John and I."

"So you drink, use prescription drugs for hangovers, insult Sarah Connor on a personal level and frequently threaten death towards her new friend." Cameron listed off as she watched Derek stare at the cyborg who tried his best to hide his rage at her.

"You do know that Sarah and I are engaging in building a mutual friendship right?" Cameron asked politely. Derek knew alright judging by his defensive posture.

"Your behavior leads me to the conclusion that not only do you resent the woman, but you hold her in the same category as you do Me." the metal sighed and gave Derek a small, regretful, nearly innocent smile. Derek wasn't convinced it was as innocent as she wanted him to think it was.

"Listen to me you stupid metal bitch I would never, NEVER put you two in the same category you lying, murdering fuck." Derek snarled at the machine, Cameron merely shrugged her shoulders and looked completely unfazed by his reaction.

"It is very admirable that you defend the woman from my words, but you and I both know that this is true." the metal said in a voice that was seemingly polite "After what happened to Allison and Kyle I can't help but-"

Derek's healthy hand formed a fist, connecting it into Cameron's face slamming it directly into her cheekbone with a dull thud, causing the machine to slump her head to the left as she registered the action. Slowly the metal bitch turned her head back, seemingly ignoring the attack, the only indication the attack occurred was the redness in her cheek and the most hateful glare he had ever seen the terminator give him. It made the look she gave him before she stabbed him look like a passive gaze in comparison.

_'Oh shit.'_ was the first thought that went through his head.

It was not what he expected at all, it felt like he had been punching a regular human being than a machine, only that it didn't react like a human or a machine. On one hand she didn't scream in pain like he didn't expect her to do, but neither did his fist didn't collide with her coltan Hyperalloy skull as hard as he thought it would. Her soft, human like skin not only caught the punch but it cushioned his attack.

To him it felt like he was punching Allison.

Oh god he had punched Allison Young.

_'No_,' Derek's reasonable side roared at him before he could physically react to the notion of abusing a dead friend_, 'this bitch killed her and took her identity, Allison was dead and all that was left was this metal monstrosity.'_

"I can't help, but think that you resent Sarah," Cameron continued, her voice still lacking a reaction from the attack. "You resent Sarah Connor because not only did John send your brother on a suicide mission, but by loving Sarah your brother was doomed to die alone."

Cameron's voice drifted silent as she raised her hand and touched the now bruising organic tissue tenderly. She remembered that Derek had no idea about how extensive her nervous system was and he certainly didn't know that it was still turned on at full strength in case John wished to touch her.

Another thing that Derek didn't notice was Cameron willing herself not to cry. It was an injury that wasn't much more than a few broken blood vessels under her skin but it hurt more than every gunshot she had ever received or even the explosion she gotten caught in. Cameron wasn't sure how humans could stand the concept of pain.

"My brother knew what he was signing up for, he knew that this was a one way trip," Derek replied grimly to the machine. "You don't send a lone human against a goddamn terminator and ever expect them to come back from it in one piece."

"I know of his duty, I understand it now and I don't hate her for it anymore," Derek muttered, avoiding the machines glare, "Hell the other day I watched her fucking break down and cry over it. I knew that she still loved him, but I know now that she is just as scared now as she was when her and my brother had their one day together."

Derek fell silent as Cameron digested the information he gave her about Sarah. He also watched as she kept touching the spot he punched . He did his best to ignore the small nagging voice in his gut that something about the metal was off. The way she talked seemed far less mechanical and more and more like the girl he once knew.

"I hope you understand that one hug and a few kind does not constitute a change in your relationship with Sarah Connor," Cameron retorted finally, her eyes now empty of emotion he had witnessed seconds prior "Less than twenty four hours later you continued to insult her when you were intoxicated. That by itself voids your kindness to her."

Derek hated to admit it but the metal had a point, but would he be able to change his resentful feelings for Sarah just because her son's new fucktoy had, for the first time, said something that was true.

"I have one more thing Derek Reese," Cameron said as he turned around to sit back down in his chair "I require your assistance."

"Like hell I'm giving you it.." Derek replied heatedly as he continued to clean the AN-94 on the table. Cameron rose her eyebrows at his words and smiled darkly at the concept of his stubborn resistance.

"It was not a request Derek Reese." Cameron stated coldly. Reese looked up and noticed Cameron's stance nor her expression was impassive. Derek knew that at that moment he was at the disadvantage, he was going to assist her whether he liked it or not.

* * *

Half an hour later Cameron finally left the presence of Derek Reese. Slipping a small glass vial into her pocket. She was scared, scared of something she did not want to admit to being afraid of.

She was scared of Derek Reese, she was scared of what this man could do to her if she provoked him anymore then she was already doing.

He would in all likelihood not ever be able to understand the changes that were occurring in her. In fact he would probably kill...Deactivate her given an opportunity, and since alcohol served as only an inflaming to the situation it gave her the conclusion that it was only a matter of time before something significantly dangerous to John and her would occur.

In Derek Reese's eyes, she was nothing more than the machine who destroyed and perverted Allison Young and if that wasn't able to be overlooked, then perhaps she could find and alternative way of getting this broken man back under control.

She had to talk to Weaver, perhaps she could get him private care to work out his alcoholism and obvious mental trauma he was suffering from. Sure it would come at the cost of a relatively well trained resistance fighter, but Cameron knew that she could pick up the slack while he was out.

At any rate she found something new that made her fearful for her own existence: Derek Reese's uncompromising rage of her existence...no, her life.

But before she did this she first had to ready herself for tonight. Riley had called John on Wednesday, two nights prior and talked to him for exactly forty seven minutes and twenty one seconds, it had been easily the most nerve wracking forty seven minutes and twenty one second in the long time for her. Particularly since John hadn't helped her eavesdropping because he was only answering that stupid girl in simple answers like "yes" and "no" and a few grunts here and there.

While Cameron was not in the same room as her John he seemed to have been able to promptly figure out that she knew about the call by the disgruntled look on her face. After a minute or two of very patient assurance from him that he and Riley were completely over and done with she felt very abashed with the mistrust. She disliked the fact she thought so lowly of John's loyalty at times.

She loved him, she had told Weaver it and she had meant it, now why couldn't she get herself to say it to John. She knew that he loved her. Perhaps to her their relationship was developing far faster than most standard relationships in terms of admitting love to one another. Cameron would have known this, as she did night watch she had found herself studying post teenage relationships when she connected to John's wireless Internet connection.

As Cameron stalked upstairs she suddenly felt determined to find comfort from John because of the past events with Derek Reese. As her heat sensory picked him up in his bedroom she smiled to herself, John was sitting at his computer desk. Most likely trying to get his English assignments completed for school. It was nice to see him so focused on his academics, an educated man made a better leader than an ignorant man, but as good as that may have been for the future, Cameron had other plans for him.

"Hey Cam," John called without looking up at her as she walked through the door "how's this looking?"

Cameron stopped behind him scanned the screen she had taken immediate notice to some grammar and sentence structure problems but all in all John was doing wonderful. Cameron smiled to herself as she wrapped her arms around him laid her chin on top of his head.

"You are doing well," Cameron informed him "I will check it over for errors when I get home tonight."

"Talked to Derek?" he guessed as he noticed the hard tone in her voice.

"A little," Cameron shrugged nonchalantly "I mostly watched him clean his Abakan assault rifle, he does not like to converse with me because I bring a different view then he does."

Cameron ran her hand across the back of John's neck, enjoying his momentary shiver of pleasure. Had this been any other day she would have viewed the shiver as a prelude to something much more passionate but today was different. John drove her sensors wild and her processors would lock up from the data her nervous system would send.

She needed a clear head for her upcoming assignment, as much as she wanted to tempt her nervous system into a breakdown.

"Are you excited for tonight?" John asked coyly, Cameron tilted her head as she thought of the question. Was she excited about dealing with a snake who every time she saw Cameron or spoke to John, tried to unknowingly topple her and Johns relationship just because John thought that she was mildly attractive many weeks ago.

No, if anything Cameron found herself very angry with her own planning. She did not want to talk about John around an unknowing ex girlfriend.

"I am going out on a fact finding mission about your ex Girlfriend, whom I despise very much, I do not think that I am going to enjoy this at all." Cameron replied, still reading his report carefully, as she did her best not to focus any of her processor efficiency on the girl she would inevitably see later tonight.

"John looked up from the screen and kissed her cheek, making the serious expression Cameron had lighten considerably as she felt the touch of her human's lips rest on to her.

"Cameron is there anything you do enjoy?"

Cameron looked back down and noticed that John was gazing at her inquiringly. John was right about her, she had nothing enjoyable. It was just John that seemed to have the ability to always capture her interest.

"Besides your company John?" Cameron asked with a small awkward smile as she pulled her head back "I want to enjoy something but there is so many things out there to attempt, I am not sure where to start."

John swung the chair around to face Cameron as he thoughtfully asked "I was thinking Cam, maybe we'll go out soon and go out and find something you will enjoy-"

John stopped mid sentence as he noticed that her left cheek was a vivid purple and yellow mark blotched on her otherwise perfect complexion. He raised his arm and took her by the waist as he looked at the mark closely. Cameron had been injured and he knew of only one reason it would have occurred.

"What's that?" John quietly asked her, Cameron reacted by raising her hand up to touch the swollen flesh from Derek's rage. John stood up from his and pulled her hand away in order to take a closer look at the damage her face received.

"How in the hell did that happen?" A forced calmed question escaped John's lips.

Cameron looked down as if she was somehow embarrassed of the incident that had occurred. While she was proud for showing such restraint for the sudden and violent outburst, she still felt like she should have given a stronger reaction than what she had giving him. She thought it best to file this lack under genuine concern for Reese, seeing as she had already caused a significant injury to him.

"I asked Derek if we could speak in a cordial manner." Cameron explained to him as casual as she could "He decided that he communicates more effectively with his fist."

John tightened his fist as Cameron confirmed theory. He warned Derek what would happen if he harmed her. He gave him a very specific warning about how he cared about her wellbeing. Punching Cameron was the last straw. He was going to go downstairs and beat the life from that bastard.

"I'm gonna kill him." he uttered as if he was simply going to go downstairs and gun him down. Cameron shook her head and took hold of his waist, trying to keep the agitated human in his place.

"Please do not attempt to harm him John," Cameron requested as she held onto him as tight as she could without breaking or suffocating him. "It was my fault that Derek Reese hit me like this, I unintentionally brought up several sore subjects, Allison Young and Kyle Reese."

"How does that justify his actions Cameron?" John demanded to know from the cyborg as he continued to try to break the hold she held him in "that bastard needs some tuning."

"I cannot let you act John, it is not in your nature to harm your family over a few injured blood vessels, and the bruising will be repaired within the hour." Cameron tried to reason with the struggling human.

"Let go of me." John demanded, not paying attention to Cameron's suddenly hurt look she had etched on her bruised face. Cameron followed his order, allowing John to stumble out of her tight arms. John turned to leave and managed to make the door before Cameron finally reacted.

"John I want you to stay with me." Cameron called out to him watching carefully as he paused at the doorway. "I need you to stay with me, Derek is wrong in his behavior and I agree something must be done about it soon." Cameron walked up to John and pressed her hand to his shoulder and added "But attacking a fully grown emotionally unbalanced resistance soldier is not the answer to this problem. I believe that I can make an appeal to Catherine Weaver about this problem. If she truly is on our side then I believe she could get Derek Reese the help he needs."

"And besides John" Cameron finished letting of John once more reluctantly "I would rather that we have an organized plan to deal with Reese rather then you rushing to get yourself hurt."

"Oh," John challenged, he turned crossing his arms "you think that the outcome would be my getting my ass kicked if I went down there?"

Cameron looked at the gesture of human stubbornness, she had witnessed every human she knew perform this act more than once around her. Cameron looked down and crossed her own arms awkwardly and looked up to John once more.

"I know it would be," Cameron finally informed her human "Derek Reese weighs 41 pounds more then you, almost 87 percent of that weight is in muscle, it would take a surprise attack on your part or a direct intervention from myself to stop Derek Reese from injuring you."

"But you would intervene." He pointed out playfully. Cameron nodded her head in agreement.

"Oh course John, if you were in trouble I would not hesitate to be there." Cameron answered him easily as she grazed his cheek with her hand. "The problem lies in my ability to deal with him rationally. If I see you bleeding and on the floor I may end up killing him."

By the serious look the cyborg gave John he knew that this was no idle worry. Cameron was genuinely concerned about what could happen to his uncle if he went through with his increasingly irresponsible reaction. With a kiss, John slipped out of Cameron's grasp and walked back to the table and took a seat.

He turned around and smiled and patted his lap. Cameron looked at and looked back up to the human who seemed to want the weight of a high density machine on him, So she walked over to him finally. Cameron took a hesitant seat on to John's lap, trying her best to not hurt him. John grunted as he felt her weight hit his lap, causing the cyborg to turn her head in order to look at John's strained face.

"Best not to aggravate the situation then?" he inquired weakly, Cameron couldn't help it, she smiled and laughed softly at John's predicament.

Yes John, please leave your uncle alone." Cameron replied coyly before adding "Would you like to get off your lap? You seem to be in pain." John scowled at Cameron through the pressure he was under but she understood that it was different from the angry scowl she was so use to receiving from people who objected her existence.

"Nah." John reiterated Cameron smiled and lowered her lips to his, stopping herself inches away from his.

Would you like to change places with me?" Cameron inquired tilting her head slightly as she thought her actions might make her John feel emasculated by her question but John merely smiled and placed his hand onto her bruised grazed it. Cameron closed her eyes as she felt her injured organic layer tingle in a mixture of pain and delight.

Cameron opened her eyes and looked back at him and his warm eyes, she took in the small knowing smile John gave suddenly. Something was about to happen between them, she was certain John was going to make a move on her. Cameron felt her systems glitch for a brief second in anticipation, but she ignored it and smiled at her once more, she pressed both of her hands onto his face and acted before John could.

It wasn't just a kiss, it wasn't passion as what seemed to be the thing that Cameron enjoyed the most. This was different, it was pure unadulterated lust. She didn't want to stop this, but she needed to stop it.

Cameron stood up from the seat her lips still sealed to his and pulled John up as well. She felt herself move backwards as she slowly pulled him back towards the bed. As she closed in she decided to turn away at the last moment. Instead they hovered in place as she repositioned her head to kiss him harder.

"Please John," Cameron managed to finally managed to gasp out as she felt John's hand drag up her thigh "As much as I would enjoy continuing this course I must end this, I do not want to be worked up for tonight because of your desire for me."

John tried to break it off for her. But Cameron had other ideas as she contradicted her own words and once again kissed him. As soon as she did so she forced herself to break it once more looking slightly abashed with her behavior, John merely snorted and grinned at her brightly.

"I would certainly hope you can wait until I get back tonight." she asked him feeling agitated with the idea of waiting six hours to be with him. Thankfully Cameron wasn't the only one who was put off by this thought.

"I'm gonna hold you to that Cam." John told her grumpily.

"Good, I will not forget." Cameron promised the human.

Silence fell as Cameron held on to John's shoulders and rested her chin on his shoulder blade like she had grown so use to doing ever since they had decided to pursue an intimate personal relationship.

"So what do you say," John finally asked her, deciding to ask his earlier question again. "How about you and I go out and find something enjoyable for you to be doing."

Cameron briefly processed the thought, it seemed like the right course of action for her development, she could not continue to mope, as humans phrased it, about the things she found no pride in, finally she said. "I would like to find an interest for myself to participate in. I think a date could be arranged in the near future. We are certainly overdue for an outing."

"Sounds good." John agreed and kissed on the side of her head. Cameron didn't react like she wanted to, instead she found herself desiring to say something

"John?" she whispered more to herself than to him.

John looked up and said "Yes Cam?"

"I...I," Cameron started but paused as she looked into John's eyes. Cameron came to the conclusion that John Connor in all likelihood did not want to hear the words she longed to say to her human.

"I've got to go get dressed," Cameron quickly covered for the sudden surge of what she hypothesized as nervousness as she quietly murmured. "I will be back in a short while."

"Cameron?" The emerging transhuman paused as she heard her name escape John's lips.

"If you have something to say to me, even if it's not easy to say, by all means you can say it, you can tell me anything." John told her in a soft tone. Cameron turned around and looked back into his honest eyes. She returned the look with the unnatural silence she had perfected back under Skynet's rule.

After a moment of determining the validity of John Connors words she slowly raised her lips into an incomplete smile and quickly flung her hand up in an odd wave. She took two steps backwards and closed the door, not noticing that John was watching her the whole time, Giving a half solemn, half worried look for the cybernetic organism.

* * *

It was officially 7:39PM as Cameron pulled into Cicadas private parking space, the restaurant was a high end Italian restaurant that Riley chose to meet at. As she got off the bike she activated her scan to find any flaws in her outfit, a simple semi-casual two piece blouse and dress. She looked perfect, at least John told her, and would have continued to say that about her.

She thought about her John and found herself again resenting herself for coming up with something as absurd as a date with that disgusting girl instead of having a good time with a very wonderful John Connor at her side.

_Activating infiltration mode...Standby_

_WARNING Corruption Detected: recommend keeping Infiltration mode disabled._

Cameron ignored the warning, she wasn't sure if she could do this without this program working, it was work the risk.

_Recommendation Canceled: Infiltration Mode Activated...Standby_

_Infiltration mode activated: proceed with extreme caution...inhibitor strength holding at 59.78 percent_

Her hypersensitive ears picked up a faint hum coming from inside of her purse, she focused herself out of scan mode and reached for her mobile and noticed that a text message from Catherine Weaver had been left for her. Curious about its content, Cameron opened it quickly.

_Cameron_

_I have to work late. Drop by the office tonight after your date with Ms. Dawson, I have already informed John about this._

_I hope you have fun tonight Cameron._

_Catherine Weaver_

Catherine Weaver wanted to see her? Cameron quickly deducted that the likely reason for this meeting was for her safety, perhaps Catherine was concerned that the date would not go well. She promised Weaver that she would do her best not to bring anything personal on to this date.

At least that had been the plan until she turned the corner and saw her date.

Riley stood waiting outside the front, a look of apprehension now present, Cameron took note that her outfit was the same old t-shirt and jeans, but something was different about her, perhaps she had finally taking a shower or used some sort of personal sanitizer finally cleaning her greasy disgusting flesh for once in her miserable life, or it might have been the fact that she probably slapped on an extra four pounds of makeup to make herself presentable looking in the face of perfection.

Cameron wiped her last thoughts, never in her existence had she been vain about her own appearance, conscious yes, but never this vain. She knew that John Connor liked that about her, she had already known that she was a very attractive girl but she didn't pay much attention to it. But with Riley it seemed to bring the worst out in her.

It must have been the feminine side to her mechanics seeing as she had been built with the sole purpose of manipulation in mind, she now had her hold on a young man who loved her very much. In return, Cameron was never, ever, going to give him up to another human like Riley Dawson for as long as she continued to exist, yes she was possessive but John seemed to like it.

As Cameron got closer to Dawson she ended her thoughts and focused on the objective by giving her a warm friendly smile.

"Hello Riley," Cameron called to the blond, "how are you doing tonight?"

"Doing alright, how are you feeling?" Riley asked her cordially, "you're looking pretty healthy for someone with the flu."

"Yes I am doing fine, I have been helping around the house," Cameron lied softly to the girl "with my mom and brother ill I have to pick up the slack." She said before adding "I mean, you know what it's like right Riley."

Cameron smiled inwardly at the reaction she got, a look of complete shock from Cameron's obviously cruel words. She couldn't help herself to not say it. It felt right to her to insult this silly little girl in any way possible. Cameron felt her thoughts and observations darken significantly as she begun to focus on all the time her John and Riley had alone with each other.

For the first time in her existence she felt truly disgusted with the concept that John and Riley had sex together. As her CPU focused on the thought, her HUD light up brightly as it read out what seemed like hundreds of different variations from the same situation.

Cameron looked back up and for several seconds noticed the faint sign of a glare Riley Dawson was giving off. Apparently Riley Dawson did not like her words.

"Oh right...you are a foster child, I apologize." Cameron said tactfully, "sometimes I speak before I think, it often gets me into trouble on occasion."

"Whatever," Riley said emotionless, looking like it was a touchy subject "let's just go in."

Cameron nodded and took hold of Riley's hand surprising her as she gently led the other girl in to the restaurant. Cameron smiled at the look of horror she was receiving from the girl next to her. As much as she had to stay focused on what was needed to be done,. She certainly was enjoying the girl's discomfort.

For a girl who was willing to do anything for John giving half a chance, Riley certainly was uncomfortable with the concept of a girl liking her, Cameron was sure that Riley was very aware of the situation, as much as she despised and belittled the girl, Riley Dawson was, in all likelihood smarter then she looked.

Individuals with agendas always were more intelligent then they wanted their targets to know.

"Hello welcome to Cicanas do you have a reservation?" The maître'd greeted the two girls, Cameron thoughtful look gave Riley a false smile and took a few steps forward to take control of the situation once more.

"Yes," Cameron said smiling kindly to the maître'd as she let go of Riley's hand. "I believe it should be under Dawson."

"Dawson..Yes here we are follow me then ladies." The man affirmed as Cameron ignored the renewed dirty look Riley Dawson was now giving her.

Cameron moved out the way, allowing the maître'd to pass so that they could follow him. The restaurant was quite expansive despite the impression the view from the street gave, so much that there was even enough room to have a dance floor with a small group of classically trained musicians playing a indeterminable tune from what sounded like the romanticism period.

Hopefully, Cameron thought to herself, one day soon, she would actually be able to sit down and actually learn to not only listen but to actually enjoy one of the few beautiful things human hands were able to create.

The maître'd stopped them at a table near the center of the room, next to the musicians and pulled a seat out for Riley who sat down promptly without thanks, as the maître'd moved to seat Cameron, she smiled and held up her hand taking a seat herself.

"I'll have one of our servers come to get your orders shortly." The man said before nodding to each of the girls and left the girls presence.

"You certainly have expensive taste Riley Dawson," Cameron noted, trying to maintain a sweet tone "very expensive indeed." Riley laughed aloud and shook her head.

"Nah," Riley replied in a notably false enthusiastic tone leaning back in her chair and watched the terminator carefully "you said you were paying so I made it my business to make sure it was expensive as hell, I hope you don't mind though."

Cameron return her laugh at Riley's remark as she secretly seethed with anger.

"I am fine with that Riley," Cameron said as she stopped laughing "So long as you and I can spend tonight together." Cameron watched for a moment as Riley turned red from Cameron's sensual remark. She looked behind her as her peripheral vision took immediate noticed of a young waitress making her way towards the pair of them.

Quickly, Cameron developed a plan to extract information from Riley with little to no violence necessary. After all, Cameron thought to herself she needed to maintain a level of objectiveness to her mission, just as Catherine had requested.

"Hello I am Julie your server for the evening, Can I start you ladies with a drink?" The server asked as she handed them a drink menu. Which Cameron took and handed one of two Riley, forcing her arm to not toss it at the girl.

Cameron gazed at the drink menu for less than two seconds and said "I will have a double Vodka and orange juice."

"Okay, may I see some ID?" The server ask politely.

Cameron reached into her purse and pulled a wad of twenties and placed it onto the table, watching the server look at the sudden appearance of cash on the table. Cameron smiled at the look of confusion on the young woman's face.

"Would you like to see a wad of cash instead?" Cameron pointed out gesturing to the cash on the table. Using greed to her advantage worked like a charm the server looked at the money and back to Cameron's reassuring look. The woman nodded and wrote down Cameron's request.

"Riley what would you like?" Cameron decided asked the little blond girl as if she was six years old. Riley frowned at the cyborg as she looked from Cameron to the server.

"I'll take a pitcher of water." She finally requested, the server nodded and wrote it down.

"Yes, bring water as well," Cameron agreed before turning back to Dawson and placing her soft hand onto Riley's "Now Riley, the Julie the server is asking what you would like to actually drink tonight."

Riley looked mistrustfully at Cameron for a moment. Cameron on the other hand smiled assuringly at the girl.

"How about a beer," Riley finally requested quietly "any kind will be fine."

"A beer?" Cameron asked, trying her best to sound put off with such a basic alcohol choice her date asked "well sounds okay I guess."

"Great here are your menus," The server said, collecting the cash on the table and handing a menu each to them before adding "I'll be back in a bit with your drinks."

Cameron murmured thanks as the waitress turned back to head upstairs to the bar. Riley seemed to not want to speak with Cameron at all, the terminator was fine with this however, it would be best to allow the girl a few minutes of silence.

It also gave her a few minutes to refocus onto John and Riley. Once again, it made the machine girl very worried about just how far those two had really gone, particularity with two very contradictory stories one story that John had told her and one that she was now developing herself. As much as Cameron trusted her John with telling the truth, Her HUD was now informing her that there was a small chance that John was being completely honest with her.

She would have to ask him, Cameron decided, as a free machine she had a right to know if her boyfriend, the human she was so caught up with had indeed engaged in sexual activities with this dirty little girl sitting in front of her.

Cameron watched as the server made her way over to their table, with a warm, glowing smile for Cameron which, strangely enough, distracted her from her query about John. Cameron said thanks as took her drink. Cameron nodded politely as the server informed the two of them that she would be back soon.

"Nice woman," Cameron mused as the woman was out of earshot of them, a very lush smile slapped on her lips, causing Riley to squirm in her seat "A little too eager for my taste, I prefer the ones who fight...just enough to keep things interesting for me."

Cameron grinned as took notice of Riley turning bright red once more from her statement. She watched as the muttered 'too much information' and downed half her beer in one go which made the cyborg smile, hypothesizing that Riley's ability to process alcohol was limited, much like most teenage girls her age were.

Cameron looked down and sipped her own drink, holding back a grimace from what felt like a concoction of poison pouring down her throat. It was not her first time consuming this substance but it was first time she used her taste sensors to full effect as she drunk the repugnant liquid.

"So how have you been doing since we last spoke? I sincerely hope you are doing well like you have told me already." Cameron stated deciding it to be prudent to change the subject for Riley, hoping to get her a bit more open to questions that she had planned for her.

"Like I said I'm good." Riley abruptly replied to Cameron question.

"Good."

They fell into silence as the waitress came back to their table and asked the two if she could refresh there drinks, Riley nodded right away and asked for something a little harder than her last drink.

"I know this may be rushed but I would like to order if it is possible." Cameron asked the server as she collected Riley's empty glass. Julie the server smiled and nodded to the cybernetic life form.

"Good," Cameron stated, closing her menu and looked back up to the server, "I will take the mixed green salad, hold the vinaigrette and for an _entrée_, I will have a Chicken Fricassee with Summer Vegetables."

"Wonderful choice," The Server nodded as she wrote down Cameron's choice and turned her attention back to Riley and asked "and you miss?"

"I'll have the salmon." Riley requested handing her menu Cameron outstretched hand.

"Okay," The server said as she looked up from her note pad and took the menus, "I will be back with your salad and the _entrée_ when they are done."

Cameron watched once again as the waitress left before she picked up the steak knife on the table, trying her best to ignore an idea in the back of her thoughts. An idea to plunge the knife deep into Dawson's chest cavity.

"You know Riley," Cameron mused as she continued to look into her reflection from the steak knife "you and I haven't ever really had a proper conversation, I would like to change that."

Cameron looked up from the knife slowly in a way that unnerved Riley, a very odd smile resting on her lips as she continued to hold the knife tight in her hands.

"Why don't tell me a bit about yourself," Cameron asked her curiously, she did her best to maintain the tone as a simple request "what are your foster parents like? Were you born in here in California...you know what I mean."

Cameron leaned in closer to Riley, who looked worried by the knife still firmly in Cameron's hand, and uttered "I would like to get to know every detail of your life."

"I would rather want to talk about you Cameron." Riley stalled quickly causing the cyborg to raise one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows.

"I'm not very interesting Riley Dawson," Cameron lightly replied, playfully smacking Riley in the arm, "what can I really tell you? I have people who love me a good home to live in, my life has been great."

"I wouldn't say that," Riley responded as she made her words sweeter than they actually were "John tells me that he lives with an asshole uncle, a bitchy mother and a sociopathically obsessed sister won't stop prying into his business."

Cameron blinked at Riley's charge.

"Sounds like a compliment compared to the other two," Cameron managed to force out with a strained light tone to her voice "and John isn't that bad."

"Oh, I wasn't saying it was a bad thing," Riley shot back "I kind of believe him. I mean why else would I be on a date with a pseudo lesbian sister who seems to be on the prowl for information about John's private life, I mean doesn't he have a say about it?"

And there it was, Cameron's cover was already blown, usually at this point Cameron would stand up, pull her USP from her purse and put a .45 caliber sized hole through her skull. But sadly Cameron still had to follow John's specific order to not terminate Riley Dawson.

"Pseudo lesbian?" Cameron asked Riley with a hurt tone, deciding that it was best to play with her for a little bit longer "I actually really like you Riley."

Riley didn't buy the ruse for a moment.

"Cut the shit." was her only response to Cameron's assertion that she was indeed attracted to Riley.

Cameron tilted her head as she regarded the girl and suddenly Cameron's light tone fell to a low, monotone and asked "Are you sure that is what you would like Riley Dawson?"

Riley's head pulled back suddenly from the cold, detached tone that Cameron possessed.

"Okay, I have played this game long enough." She continued "I was trying to be nice to you but that doesn't seem like the case, I thought at the very least I could interest your obvious bisexual side." Cameron smiled as Riley looked at her in utter confusion.

"You want me to be honest with you?" Cameron questioned, her voice hardened dangerously as she leaned in closer Johns Ex, "Well I am still trying to figure what would possess my brother to enjoy the company of someone as dirty as yourself."

Riley looked ready to blow up so Cameron pressed her hand Riley's lips to keep the girl from causing a scene before dinner had even arrived."When I say dirty I do not just mean personal hygiene, which I must stress, you lack as well, I also mean you are a walking sexually transmitted disease, something I would never want my brother to be seeing."

Cameron willed herself to come down from this rant, but more and more of her suppressed rage poured through every kilobyte of her memory, telling her that this was okay to do.

"When I look at you I feel truly disgusted with your existence," Cameron snapped barely containing the urge to tighten her grip and break the girls jaw. "You are and will always be a leech, sucking the life out of more powerful people, people like my brother."

Cameron took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she let go of Riley's mouth. Riley, couldn't say anything, her eyes were genuinely terrified of the girl sitting in front of her. After what felt like five minutes Cameron looked back up and frowned at Riley.

"I think it would be best if you broke it off with him and save yourself the grief when he realizes the kind of parasite you actually are." Cameron warned the girl menacingly "Because when the night is over Riley, you'll be ending it with him quick and painlessly or I'll be wrecking you."

Cameron sudden smiled awfully and placed her hand onto Riley's, her cold voice sardonically said "Now was that honest enough for you?"

There was no retort from Riley. Instead they engaged in a staring match for three and a half minutes before Dawson looked way. The two of them chose not to speak any further, both rather decided that the stares and glares they gave each other was more than enough conversation for them.


	15. Meltdown

**Chapter Fifteen: Meltdown**

**

* * *

**

Those bastards…Those stupid, ignorant bastards.

Sarah was nearly ready to toss Weaver's phone against the wall. She was so enraged with those two bastard Air Force grunts. They didn't even give Weaver any acknowledgment for her obvious knowledge of the subject.

Sarah hated listening to the conversation Weaver had secretly recorded, all it did was confirm to her that the end was near, whether it was three years from now or the next day, it was coming, and all they had the ability to do was try to prevent a government with seemingly limitless resources and madmen hell bent on constructing their own extinction as Catherine Weaver had bluntly stated during their first encounter.

Then there was Catherine Weaver; what in the hell was this machine's role in all of this?

Why was Weaver doing this for the Connors, a family that was ready to raid her company under any other circumstances? She had no reason to aid the Connors with anything, if anything, she should have been fighting her at every turn. This was her existence she was fighting against by giving Sarah this wake up call.

Sarah did not know what to make of Weaver, something about her just didn't sit right with her, but Cameron seemed to have faith in the machine so Sarah decided that was enough for the time being.

She looked over her shoulder and noticed that John's phone was sitting where John presumably slept. Quietly Sarah reached out with her hand, taking it, and turned it on. She silently scrolled through the contacts. And there it was. Weaver's name and number, just waiting to be dialed. Sarah looked at the number, feeling tempted to call it.

She had to know where Catherine stood on things Sarah decided. She had to know what kind of role she would play for them. She was just plain curious about her. So she acted on her impulse and hit the call button.

After two rings she heard Weavers phone picked up, but an unfamiliar voice briskly said "Zeira Corporation head offices how I may help you?"

"Isn't this Catherine Weaver's Cellphone?" Sarah asked, feeling her nervousness from readying herself to deal with the liquid metal deflate slightly.

"Yes Ma'am, I'm Catherine Weaver's personal assistant Lauren, I'm afraid that Miss Weaver is on her way to a meeting." the woman said, sounding very distracted with other tasks, after a moment she asked "Can I take a message?"

Sarah took a seat on to Cameron's bed and replied "No, tell her it's Sarah Baum, I need to talk to her right now, it's urgent."

There was a momentary pause on the other end before the woman finally managed to reply with, "one moment Mrs. Baum, I'll see if I can get her."

The line went dead on the assistants end. Sarah sighed to herself as she looked down at the lone photograph like image of her son resting on Cameron's bedside table. She briefly hoped to herself that Cameron was doing well dealing with the other girl in John's life. It was love that John and Cameron had together. There was no doubt in her mind now about those two anymore.

She heard a muffled voice before the sound of a second phone being lifted coming from the other end. "Sarah Baum...to what do I owe this honor." Catherine voice asked politely, startling Sarah slightly at her razor like tone. Sarah gathered her wits again and focused on replying to the T-1001.

"Your information." Sarah replied with a steady tone.

"Ah I see," Catherine enigmatically returned, there was a small pause before Sarah heard what sounded like the closing of a door before she added "I apologize but you will have to make this brief, I'm due for a conference in five minutes."

"You're not pulling my leg about this," Sarah whispered as if Weaver hadn't said anything to her. "All this information you recorded was the real deal?"

"Why would it not be Ms. Connor?" Weaver replied her voice edged with the same tone that Cameron had "I happen to value honesty, even when it's not particularity valuable for my own personal gain, if you like you could consider it a token of friendship."

If Sarah wasn't so sure that Weaver had an ulterior motive behind her generosity, she would have been touched.

"Who are the other companies Weaver?" Sarah demanded from the seemingly generous machine she was speaking to.

"Ms. Connor, I am sorry, that part remains to be seen for the moment." Weaver acknowledged, an obvious concealment of the truth very present as she included "I am waiting now for General Brewster's response, I am hoping he will react without resorting to force, but most of his type only seem to understand that course if they do not get there way..." Weaver's musings trailed off as she fell silent once more.

"I will, of course, keep Cameron, John and yourself informed of any further developments in regards to this developing situation." Weaver finally finished, trying her best to alleviate Sarah's doubt in vain.

"Why would you?" Sarah asked Catherine inquisitively.

"Why wouldn't I?" Weaver retorted back dryly.

"You don't strike me as someone who makes herself at the service of humans like John and I." Sarah clarified for the machine. If this had been a face to face meeting Sarah would have noticed the very large smirk Catherine Weaver now had as she absorbed Sarah's words.

"Very astute Ms. Connor," Weaver complimented the terrorist "But perhaps I am changing my ways, after all I do have the ability to change."

Sarah didn't answer the CEO charge that she was changing. She did not believe Weavers words for a moment. Someone like her with so much personal power would never give up their influence.

"Judging by your lack of response you doubt that?" Catherine asked the human with an almost warm tone to her voice "good, I am right where I wish to be, I have no reason to change."

"I have to go Ms. Connor but before I leave you I must tell you that you have no authority over me." Catherine informed Sarah, her words now deadly serious "I promise I will not get in your way so long as stay out of my business."

"What will happen if I do?" Sarah pressed, hoping to get more of an idea who she was dealing with.

"If you manage to do that Sarah," Weaver answered for her in a much more kinder tone. "You and I will have a long productive and hopefully personal friendship in the near future."

"I'm afraid I must make my leave Ms. Connor, have a pleasant evening." Sarah heard Weaver apologize profusely to her "Perhaps we can continue this conversation on a date."

But before the female Connor could reply to the request she heard the line go dead.

After what felt like several seconds of listen to dead silence Sarah turned off John's cellphone, feeling suddenly miserable. Weaver didn't give her anything to judge her with. The only thing she gleaned was that she and Weaver were going to have trouble getting along if she didn't make compromises to the T-1001 and her obvious superiority complex.

She had to hand it to Catherine; if the machine could be trusted to work side by side with her family then Catherine Weaver would be an invaluable resource to have on their side, someone who was not only an insider but a master in the field they were fighting against.

But everything came at a price as Sarah knew full well. It was only a matter of time before Catherine decided to start calling for favors. Another foreboding thought that Sarah had was whatever those favors would be, they were not going to be the easy kind neither.

Nearly twenty awkward minutes past by Cameron and Riley until eventually, the waitress came back, her arms holding on to their plates. Riley seemed to let a sigh of relief as Cameron turned away from her and looked to the server instead, a bright smile on her lips.

"Oh that looks wonderful." Cameron complemented brightly, causing the server smile to glow as she brought the plate down to Cameron. The terminator looked up and noticed that Riley had covertly pulled out her phone and was trying to text a message to someone.

Cameron reached over the table and pulled the phone from Riley Dawson hands firmly getting a loud and very annoyed "Hey!" from her.

"You promised me that you would not text during dinner Riley, it's rather rude of you to do so." Cameron scolded her playfully as she smiled to the waitress in thanks, who seemed to have noticed the facade Cameron was trying to give off. As she watched the waitress leave once more she turned back to Riley.

"Let's see what you have on this phone." Cameron uttered as she opened up the contact list. Her suspicions were proven correct, every phone number the Connor family had was on the phone.

"May I ask why would you need my mother's number and my Uncle Derek's number as well?" Cameron asked the stupid girl.

"Tell me, the person you were texting who is it?" Cameron blurted out before Dawson could reply "using the initials J.F only makes me more curious, it is in your best interest to inform me why you are texting another person on our date." She told her sweetly before adding "I would feel very terrible if something tragic were to happen to you."

Riley snorted and said "I doubt it, John wouldn't want you to harm me you damn me-" Riley stopped mid sentence and looked at the terminator in fear, who had been pretending to focus on the phone in her hand. Cameron looked up and tilted her head as she regarded John's ex girlfriend fear carefully.

"What did you say?" Cameron asked, giving off a false confused look as she digested what Dawson nearly slipped out.

Riley Dawson, the girl John had feelings for at one point, was from the future. There was no way that she was from this time period. She wanted to call a cyborg a metal, something that people who had witnessed the effective and merciless killing power her kind had.

She watched as Riley shook her head and weakly replied "I said nothing."

"Oh...sorry," Cameron apologized to the girl with sheepish smile "I thought you let slip that I was a mental case." She watched Riley sigh under her breath in relief.

The TOK unit looked down at her dinner and lifted her utensils and decided to dig in to her salad first for a bit before she turned her knife and fork and attention to the chicken. She dove in the Chicken Fricassee enthusiastically. Her tens of thousands of taste buds lit up as tender poultry touched them. It had a better texture then the takeout deep fried chicken from four days prior, and much more healthier for human consumption as well.

"This chicken is absolutely wonderful Riley," Cameron said between mouthfuls of her dinner, still savoring the taste it had "would you like some?"

Riley shook her head mildly as she watched Cameron eat with a nearly fascinated look on her face, It was a look that Riley should not have given her, because it all but confirmed Cameron's suspicion of her origin. The cyborg looked up and faked a smile as she gestured the human to eat. Riley nodded and ate in complete silence.

The cyborg's thought processors were working in overdrive as her CPU was bringing up what felt like millions of repeated thoughts and courses of action to deal with the potential future threat Riley may have had in store for the Connor family...for her family.

Riley was halfway through her salmon when she heard a intake of air come from across her, she didn't notice it until she heard "That hurt." escape Cameron's lips and curiously looked up at the machine to what was the matter.

Cameron's plate now had blood pouring onto it. The cyborg's index finger was seeping out blood in between the cut up flesh and the steak knife she had been using to for her chicken. The knife, it seemed, had been still stuck in her flesh keeping the wound from bleeding all over the place. The bleeding girl did not seem to be in pain as she looked up and smiled at Riley sinisterly.

In a single, bloody movement Cameron pulled the knife down her finger, peeling off a quarter of an inch of skin off of her finger, revealing a small section of a blood soaked hyperalloy endoskeleton finger. Riley looked at it in horror as she watch the Machine digit move up and down. Riley horrified eyes turned back up to Cameron who now looked at her with a frighteningly intense smile.

"I lied Riley Dawson," Cameron coldly stated, watching in silent victory "that really did not hurt at all."

Cameron felt herself slowly descend into a barely controllable rage. She did not want to reveal herself to Riley, in fact she fought against it with whatever strength she had. Something was inside her mind, telling her that fear was the answer to the Riley question.

"Now you have proof of what I am, it is time that you do the same." the TOK-715 deadpanned as she quickly pulled the loose skin back over her endoskeleton to make look like a regular laceration before other humans witnessed herself mutilation.

"What...what the hell are you talking about." Riley said in shock, her eyes darting from Cameron's face to her cellphone next to the killing machine.

"Once more, I suggest you come clean Riley Dawson," Cameron asked politely, as she lifted the partially bloodied chicken and consumed it. "If you don't I will supersede John's request with the excuse that you are a member of the Grays."

"The moment I come to that conclusion Riley Dawson I have the authority to end your miserable existence." Cameron leaned in and lied right into Riley's face, smiling humorlessly at her flinch.

"I will give you four minutes to think your response over Riley Dawson I have to go to the bathroom." Cameron said gesturing to her finger. As she stood up from her seat and gave Riley a particularly hard look as she added "I have your Mobile phone now. If you decide to escape I will not hesitate to hunt down and terminate everyone on your contact list I deem as dangerous."

She watched as Riley registered the threat, Cameron knew that she had the girl in a corner, so Cameron smiled and took three steps closer to the girl and bent over to whisper "Starting with J.F" in to Dawson's ear.

Cameron pulled back giving Riley a small kiss on the cheek and headed towards the bathroom, her mind racing with the new scenario she found herself in. Cameron pushed the door open and quickly scanned the bathroom for signs of life. Finding no one in the bathroom she turned her focus to getting to the sink.

As she placed herself at counter, Cameron gripped the inside of the porcelain sink, finally allowing her synthetic blood to pour out more freely, using her mutilated hand she turned the tap, the feeling she had was curious as she felt the rushing water splash against skin and metal.

She looked back up and into the mirror, Catherine was right, she hated what she saw looking back at her, her only real purpose was to kill, manipulate and intimidate humans, that was her only purpose in this life. Slowly, the machines hand tightened up in to a fist as she found herself wanting to hit something.

What gave her the right to steal a human from his own kind and call him her own? She couldn't even come up with a proper reason.

It was time for a distraction she decided as she dumped the contents of her purse onto the counter, quickly she pulled her .45 USP and tucked into her dresses waistband. She reached into her pocket and pulled out Riley's mobile and unhinged the back. With little effort she pulled the phones battery, its SIM card and the four gigabyte flash drive out of the phone, turning her means of communication into merely a shell.

She placed the cellphone hardware in her purse as she pocketed the cellphone once more. She found herself beginning to breathe more and more raggedly. She reached over and grabbed her eyeliner and started to reapply her makeup. She glanced over to her own phone wondering if she should call John call him and tell him that he was right, that going on this date was not the best course of action. She wasn't fit for this kind of interaction.

John wouldn't judge her if she did, John loved her, Her John cared about her. How much he did was still mystery to her.

Cameron heard the door open and an average looking woman walked up next to her and pulled out a tube lipstick an applied it, Cameron looked down at her hand, it wasn't bleeding anymore, thankfully her command had gotten through to her bodily fluid controller.

After a moment of silence the woman turned to Cameron and said "If you keep on applying that eyeliner it'll look like your boyfriend beat you up."

The cyborg turned her head up and suddenly roared "Screw OFF Bitch!"

That wasn't supposed to have been her reply; she couldn't seem to force herself to respond reasonably. Instead, not only had she uttered something rude. But somehow on its own accord her voice modulator had taken the commanding and very deadly voice Sarah Connor possessed.

Cameron placed her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide in shock of her rudeness. There was no time for her rushed apology as she watched the woman backup and left the bathroom and Cameron in peace. Cameron turned around and noticed that the woman was indeed correct; her liberal usage of eyeliner was far too much.

Cameron packed the eyeliner away, leaving only her phone a small sponge and a glass vial full of a clear unidentifiable liquid to the untrained eye. She eyed it for a moment as she picked it up. It had come to this, Cameron opened the vial and gently poured the liquid onto the small, oval sponge. Without hesitation she placed the sponge under her tongue, leaving it ready to be used in case of an emergency.

Again, she looked down at the phone and finally, after several moments of debating she picked it up and dialed John, she had to hear her John's voice, the thought of his words was the only thing holding her together at this point.

The phone rang and rang and Cameron waited patiently, finally the phone went dead silent, Leaving Cameron in anticipation of hearing her John speaking to her.

"_Not in at the moment, leave a message; I'll get back to you."_

An answering machine, Cameron got an answering machine instead of her living breathing boyfriend. She wasn't sure to say to the machine now. Cameron took a deep breath and tried to focus her racing mind on him. It did not take long for her to come up with the message she wanted to give him.

"John..I..I love you."

And she meant it. That was her excuse for stealing him away from his own kind. She loved him, she loved him so much that it stressed out her CPU thinking about it.

Cameron hung up her line and picked up and slung her purse over her shoulders exiting the bathroom to go engage Riley in one last lie before she left, it was time to warn her about the consequences from messing around with her boyfriend. Cameron looked Riley a small smile planted onto her face as she watched closely as the blond looked at the newly revealed machine in fear.

"Well I had a fun night," Riley said as she looked into Cameron's expressionless facial features, hoping in vain to get out there with little conflict "how about we leave."

"No I am sorry Riley," Cameron apologized swiftly as she dropped two fifty dollar bills on the table and extended her empty hand for Riley's as she said. "You and I will be going to dance, consider yourself lucky Riley Dawson, I am doing this in an attempt to not cause a violent incident amongst so many people."

Her hand continued to hang in midair, waiting very patiently for the future girl to take it. After almost a minute she still got no response so Cameron yanked it from off the table and pulled her up, looping her arm into Riley's to control her directions more efficiently.

"Were you sent back by John after left?" Cameron demand as she tightened her grip on her arm, causing Riley to wince painfully. Cameron relished in the pain as she felt small, electrical shocks enter her own system forcing a sudden and violent twitch through her nervous system.

"N..No" the human managed to say through the pain.

"Who sent you?" Cameron hissed at her, doing her best to ignore the pain as she focused on the defiantly stupid look that Dawson was giving her. After a brief second she added "I will kill you if you choose not to tell me who authorized your time displacement jump."

"No you won't, during one of my many private sessions with John he told me not to worry about you." Riley mocked her roughly "I bet that you're still under Johns order not to touch me."

Cameron replied with a cold glare at the girl as she felt the urge to kill her rise.

"He's pretty clever Cameron, I guess so many years of knowing what you'll become does that to you."Riley continued the machine as she struggled against the hand that was holding hers firmly.

"Are you a Grey?" She ordered the girl to answer. Riley shrugged her shoulders, looking very unwilling to part with any knowledge she had about her activities. Cameron thought process went into overdrive as the corruption in her CPU willed itself to break John's order so she could turn around and lift the girl up, tossing the human head first to the ground below.

"You are very confident that I won't hurt you aren't you?" Cameron asked Riley as they got to the upstairs and looked around at very busy dance floor the bar had.

"You could say that." Riley shot back, a sardonic grin covering her obvious fear.

"John Connor is mine now Riley," Cameron abruptly warned the girl menacingly as she pulled the girl around the waist and positioned herself into a close slow dance, Cameron rested her chin onto her rivals shoulder in order to keep her in place.

"So I got dumped for a machine." Riley whispered back her voice small but full of hate for the machine "has he gone crazy?"

"No." Cameron denied easily, her smile still ever present for the people who were sure to be watching a pair of dancing, attractive girls, "John Connor chose the cleaner alternative, a future rat catcher like yourself should not have found her way in to my John's arms."

The machine smile turned into a sneer as she watched Riley's expression twist up at the horror of Cameron know the truth about her.

"How do I now you wonder? You are not important enough to have any files in my database." Cameron informed her, as the corruption poured as much wraith into her words as it could. "No Riley, in all likelihood you somehow reached the age of sixteen living the hard, disgusting life of a vermin catcher."

Cameron's smile only widened as she added "Tell me Riley Dawson, how _you exactly survived_? Did you end up prostituting yourself out for survival?" the cyborg mused "I would not be the least bit surprised had you did, pretty girl like you." Cameron rose her hand from her waist and grazed her cheek as she asked "tell me, how much your dignity worth to you was?"

Cameron could see it now, she could see the darker side of Riley Dawson emerging idiot facade. There was coldness in her eyes that only people from the future possessed. She found herself very excited with Riley's response now.

"What was it like killing Allison Young?" Riley retorted as she stopped swaying to rhythm of the musicians. "You ended her life, slapped her skin onto you and harvested her like cattle, Tell me metal," She asked brutally "how do you feel about owing her everything, including John."

As she tried to respond Riley spoke up once again.

"John doesn't love you, John loves Allison Young," Riley said, a smug look of victory spread on her face "you know that inch or so of flesh on your body? That's what he wants. He doesn't want what's underneath, all that steel and wiring. He doesn't love you, he only wants to screw you and move on to the next girl like he has already done to me."

"What do you mean?" Cameron demanded, her eyes searching Riley's for the truth.

"Are you fucking thick metal?" Riley blurted out incredulous from her simple mindedness "I had sex with him. And he enjoyed it."

Cameron shook her head and said "John told me that you two had not engaged in sexual intercourse."

"That's called a lie honey," Riley responded in a mock concerned tone, "kind of like your existence."

"John told me that you two had not engaged in sexual intercourse." Cameron repeated, now very scared that John had indeed lied to her. She willed herself not to act overly emotional to the girl as she felt the sponge under her tongue.

"You already said that to me metal," Riley whispered back to her "you can repeat that as much as you want to but the fact still remains, me and John had sex, and it was great." Riley closed her eyes and moaned slightly, not noticing the contemptuous rage from the glare the terminator was giving her.

"God he was amazing," Riley reminisced fondly "the way he took control, the things he uttered to me."

"You look mad Hun, what's the matter? Upset about the truth?" Riley asked the shaking terminator "or you can't disobey that bastard who lied to yo-"

Riley suddenly felt her words cut off as Cameron pressed her lips to the humans, silencing her completely. She tried to fight the cyborg's advances, she tried to break it off as fast as she could but it didn't work. Cameron held her grounds and pressed forward, prying open the girl's lips, allowing her tongue entry, playing with Riley's shocked one for only a brief moment.

As the kiss continued Cameron pressed her tongue onto the sponge expelling the liquid it held in to her mouth. With all her power, she spat the liquid into Riley's mouth and raised her hand onto the front of the blonde's neck, rubbing it softly so it would allow fluid to go down her throat uninterrupted. Cameron looked up and smiled at the gagging reflex Riley as now giving off, her eyes widened.

"You are correct Riley," Cameron whispered seductively "I can't kill you, even if you were a Grey I would have to inform John first."

Cameron ignored the weak cries the human was moaning as she felt the fluid run down the inside of her throat. Satisfied that the deed was complete, Cameron let go of the girl's neck and smiled softly.

"But there are other ways to get around it," Cameron continued in a strangely light tone "While John was very specific about not harming you, he had giving me permission to kiss you tonight, that coupled with the fact that he did not disallow me kissing you with a liquid substance in my mouth cavity."

She couldn't help but smile as she watch Riley's eyes begun to roll around wildly and her body swayed back and forth as her muscles lost strength at a rapid pace.

"It just so happened that the liquid that has been _accidentally_ introduced into your system was homemade concoction." Cameron continued as if nothing was wrong with Dawson at all. "I think the mix of seventeen milliliters of liquid ketamine and another five Milliliters of gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid will suit your needs"

"I believe you humans call it the date rape drug." Cameron clarified as if they were talking about something casual.

"Do not worry Riley," Cameron comforted her kindly as she noticed a renewed panic in her eyes from the term "I have no intentions on touching you anymore then I am already, I just needed an added effect that the Ketamine did not produce needed muscle paralysis effect as powerful as I wanted it to produce."

Cameron smiled once again as she decided lean to in and took hold of her rivals cheek and inspected her features closer.

"Consider this my only warning Riley Dawson. Stay away from my boyfriend." Cameron deadpanned as she let go of her after a few more moments of inspection of the pitiful creature in front of her.

"John Connor is MINE, do you understand?" She finished with a dark tone in her warning. Cameron pulled Riley's cell and placed it into her hands and turned around as she headed for the staircase, it was time for her to depart. It was time to see Weaver, it was time to tell her about her pain, the glitches in her programming. She needed Weavers help she needed her mind to be rational once more.

"Just..Just one last thing sweetheart." Riley managed to say as the sedative cocktail begun to take effect on the girl. Cameron stopped walking and turned back, she tilted her head and decided to listen carefully to what the bitch-whore had to say.

"If you so much as move, things are going to go bad for your fucked up family...I have people watching your every move you tin bitch."

"You hear me Cameron." Riley muttered to herself as she watched Cameron descend the staircase as quick as she could. "Every fucking move."

Riley weakly tried to turn her phone on, not noticing Cameron's tampering, eventually she gave up and felt the phone slip out of her weakened grasp. Not long after that Riley collapsed from the forced ingestion of narcotics. She was very lucky to be where she was.

As for Cameron, Riley had no idea what she had done to Cameron, Even Cameron did not know. Every second she ran back to the bike felt like her legs were being bogged down by an invisible pressure. Her thoughts became less and less coordinated, Even her HUD was flickering as if there was not enough power for it to work properly anymore.

As Cameron ran from the restaurant and forced herself onto the Kawasaki and sped as fast as it would take her she had no idea just how close she was to reaching rampancy.

* * *

Catherine sat behind her desk updating her personal records. It seemed to her that James Ellison had become more and more agitated with his work with John Henry. Apparently John Henry was having a difficult time with the concept of original sin because of the vagueness of the idea. She didn't blame her son, humans were a very silly people at times. nThis was only as time filler her real reason was on her way. At least that was what she thought. Cameron gave a reply to her text from earlier that evening, less than an hour ago.

_Coming_

One word, if Catherine had been human it would have been very nerve wracking. Cameron must have forgotten the need to be rational. A ding from the elevator caused Weaver to look up. She sent the entire staff home even insured the janitorial staff would stay away from the floor. Weaver stood up and strolled out of her office.

As Catherine gazed down towards the elevator she noticed that the feminine form of Cameron Phillips was standing in the elevator making no attempt to leave the elevator at first until she looked up and saw Weaver standing many meters away from her. Cameron took one large stride after anther catching up with Catherine in a matter of seconds.

"Cameron?" Catherine said as Cameron passed her by swiftly.

Weaver turned around and followed the panic stricken girl back down the hallway and into office. Where she immediately took notice of the twitches that Cameron was suffering from.

"Cameron what's the matter." Catherine inquired curiously as she laid a hand onto her shoulder.

Cameron shook her head and babbled "They are following him. They are going to kill him, they are going to slit his throat, shoot him, drown him...murder him." Cameron placed her hands onto her head and walked away from Catherine's comforting hand.

"I am trying to stop the thoughts...I want to kill...maim...I hurt...John...I can't I just can't." She blurted out, wildly flailing her arms. Catherine noticed that Cameron was becoming more and more disturbed with each passing second.

"Cameron are you thinking about hurting John?" Catherine asked as she watched the machine pace back and forth.

"I don't know...ev...every thought hurts...every action..Painful..I can't say for sure." Cameron managed to say as coherently as she could.

"Cameron you have to calm yourself," Weaver tried to warn her. "Your panic, your thoughts are not at all healthy."

"I Hav-..To tell John...what's wrong with me Catherine?...I'm scared..I'm scared.." She suddenly cried inconsolably.

"What did Miss Dawson say to you?" Catherine whispered hoping to sooth Cameron, Weaver had no answer to give Cameron, she had never witnessed this kind of incoherency from a fellow machine before.

"Future..Riley...Betrayal...John betrayal." Cameron sputtered out, her eyes darting to every object in the room rapidly.

At that moment. Cameron, the normally reserved terminator lost complete control.

Cameron turned around and allowed her fists to rise over her head and smashed into Catherine's glass desk, destroying it instantly. Cameron gripped her bleeding hands on to her head and shrieked violently, startling the T-1001. Catherine regathered her composure and lunged at the terminator, wanting to keep the machine from destroying her office as well as harming herself.

But powerful as Catherine was Cameron easily tossed the liquid infiltrator off of her and into the other glass coffee table smashing it just as effortlessly. Catherine picked herself up and watched in horror as Cameron continued to move around the room, her head still low and babbling words like '_Love', 'betrayed' _and uttering_ John _and_ Riley _every so often_._

Cameron turned around, her eyes wide in fear as she pleaded "I'm..Sorry Weaver I-"

Another surge went through her system and Cameron kicked the stair hard against the tempered glass window, causing a crack in the sturdy glass. She wasn't going to stop, there was no way that Weaver could stop it with words now as she watch Cameron as she smashed a filing cabinet over. It was only a matter of time until Cameron turned her attention on her.

Charging once again Catherine tackled the frenzied machine to the floor and tried to keep her down this time. Once again it was in vain as Cameron registered Weavers actions as a threat and forced her off. Cameron stood over the metal mother, rage in her eyes as she lifted Catherine up by her jacket and belt and slammed her through the stainless steel bar that held up what was left of Weavers desk.

Weaver registered the stainless steel bar now logged into her chest and then looked up to Cameron who stood over her and seemed to look like she had regretted her action. Cameron turned around, her body still twitching sporadically. She did not notice that Catherine's arm had reached up and suddenly grabbed hold of her ankle and forced it off the ground.

The terminator fell hard onto Weaver's temporarily damaged body and tried her very best to break Catherine's grip. But her resolve was strong as rose her free arm to grab on to Cameron's calf and dragged her closer. Catherine steadied her grip on Cameron while her other hand let go of her ankle and made a grab for her thigh.

In her state of mind Cameron couldn't have this intrusion, so with all the might she could managed, she raised her leg and kicked Catherine square in the face with enough power that would have killed a human. She smashed the heel of her foot as many times as she could, trying her very best to break Catherine's will.

"LET GO OF ME!" Cameron screamed in vain as she continued to kick in Catherine liquid metal face as hard and as violently as she could, "LET GO OF ME!"

Catherine ignored the disfiguring kicks as she wrapped her arm around Cameron's chest and with all her pressure, forced the machine in to choke hold. Weaver felt Cameron's body react violently as she attempted one last ditch effort to escape The T-1001's immovable grasp.

The TOK unit did not notice as Weavers free right hand melted down into a sharp, short blade.

"I'm sorry Cameron, I really am dear" Catherine apologized to the struggling machine "But this is for the best."

Weaver brought the blade and slashed it through the back of Cameron's head in an X fashion. Cameron now knew what was happening and renewed the struggle even more than she already was. Catherine reformed her hand as quick as she could and forced the flesh apart revealing her students CPU.

With no hesitation Catherine twisted the CPU and pulled the device out carefully.

The resistance stopped. Cameron went dead still. Slowly the liquid metal loosened her grip on the deactivated terminators neck, allowing Cameron to slump on her. After a moment Catherine rolled Cameron's body off of her and slowly pulled herself out the steel bar.

She got to her feet and quickly did a self diagnostic. It seemed that all systems were running fine which meant she could focus on the super heated Processor in her hand. Catherine pocketed the CPU into her torn jacket and looked down at the pitiful shell of what was left of Cameron.

Gently, Weaver lifted the body into her arms and rested her on the couch. Catherine placed her fingers over Cameron's half open eyes and closed her eyelids. She couldn't help but shake her head, now very curious about what was wrong with her. She had many hypothesis but none of them were solid as of yet, all she knew was Cameron overheated and it was best if she figured out why.

Catherine reformed her facial structure as she walked over to the remnants of her table and lifted her phone from out of her purse. Silently she waited as her phone rang, she looked down and took notice of a large piece of glass hung from out of her thigh. Effortlessly she pulled it out as the other person on the line picked up.

"John? This is Catherine Weaver," Weaver said her voice holding tone of utter seriousness "Come down to my office, Cameron is in trouble."


	16. Aftermath

**Chapter Sixteen: Aftermath**

**

* * *

**

Fifteen minutes. It had been exactly fifteen minutes since Cameron's essence had been pulled from her body, thirteen minutes and seventeen seconds since Weaver had called the Connors, and twelve minutes fifty seven seconds since she hung up on John the moment she had heard him explode in complete and utter panic.

They would be here in a matter of minutes, Catherine figured. She propped her seat back to the upright position. She lifted it off the ground and walked it over so that she could take a seat next to the shell of Cameron Phillips. Her assumption was based on John's fear. She had been purposely blunt. She had thought it to be for the best to use fear to motivate the Connors into a quick arrival. She couldn't begin to picture the panic she must have induced in the young man, it was pointless to say anymore then she had, it was better to explain the situation in person.

She looked over Cameron's body, feeling a twinge of regret, she knew that she had to pull the girl's CPU, it was necessary for the teenage cyborg's safety, but what she was just as concerned about was how this would affect her own plans. She knew that there had always been a chance that this could happen, and while she had quickly developed a plan to deal with the situation, she still didn't like having to utilize it, for the first time in a long time she wasn't going to succeed without having to rethink her strategy.

Cameron was just too far gone for her, she would have to waste valuable time to plan out a new venture into the future.

Catherine sighed to herself and rubbed her newly reformed face. She hadn't been in an engagement like that in a long time. She had gotten lucky, had she not been constructed of nanites instead of a standard metal like Cameron, she would be suffering from extreme structural damage.

Bending over the deactivated machine, Weaver wiped a large synthetic bloodstain that had pooled where she had slashed open the CPU port. She knew that John Conner was going to have a field day when he found his mechanical girlfriend in this condition.

Gently Weaver's hand traced Cameron's face. She closed her eyes and told herself once again that Cameron was uncontrollable when she had a body to use. She told herself that Cameron would have agreed with this course of action and in the long run she would be better off with the T-1001's direct intervention.

Weaver leaned in and pressed her lips to Cameron's forehead kissing the terminator sympathetically before she whispered, "I'm still sorry Cameron."

Catherine stood up and straightened out her torn outfit as she left the office and walked over to sit behind her assistant's desk. She pulled her hairpin out, allowing her hair to fall onto her shoulders, before running her hand through it in an attempt to fix her disheveled look. She pulled her mobile from her pocket and brought up John's number.

_ETA? _She texted him, deciding that she didn't want to listen to his panic so soon. She received no frantic reply from him.

The unexpected sound of screeching tires was the reply to her query. She stood up quickly and walked briskly back into her office to look through her window. A late model black Dodge Ram was now parked in front of the building. The same truck that Derek Reese had attempted to park while intoxicated.

They had moved quicker then she had anticipated, she watched as John came barreling out of the driver's seat, yelling inaudibly about being ready for anything that the bitch upstairs might have had in store for them. She smiled darkly to herself as she noticed Sarah Connor had what looked like an H&K UMP in her hands.

They thought that she was going to endanger Cameron? How foolish of them. Still Weaver wasn't going to take any chances as she strolled back to Cameron and pulled her USP from her waistband, just in case.

Once more she left the office and walked down towards the elevator at a casual pace, she was ready to deal with the humans if they chose to act against her, She knew that the Connors were only looking out for an apparently endangered Cameron. That was fine by her, but so long as they weren't looking for trouble.

She watched as the elevators ascended to her level. She placed herself in a seemingly relaxed stance as she the elevator finally came to a halt. She braced herself as the doors opened, revealing to her two humans that looked, ready to attack her.

John and Sarah had their weapons at combat readiness While Catherine had anticipated the UMP that Sarah was holding. She must have missed the SPAS-12 combat shotgun in John's hands. Weaver lips formed into a smile at the surprise. She was outgunned, but she would win nonetheless should they choose to open fire on her.

"I must inquire as to why you brought weapons into my office?" Weaver questioned, waiting patiently for a verbal response. John didn't speak but his widened eyes said all that was needed to be said.

"Just for future reference Mister Connor, why exactly would I wish to harm Cameron?" She asked the shifting teenager, "I have much in store for her and I will not even bother to mention the hours I have already invested into her development."

"Sarah Connor." Catherine turned her eyes to greet the woman with a low tone, "I wish we would have met under different circumstances."

Sarah nodded curtly at the welcome and lowered her UMP, but John on the other hand ignored her completely. Weaver could appreciate his plight. He was far too concerned for Cameron's well being to acknowledge her, it was an admirable trait he seemed possess thanks to the deactivated machine. The John that she had met briefly in the future did not share the ability to care for a machine to this degree.

Catherine beckoned the Connors to follow her to her office. After a moment of tension John lowered his weapon and ran in order to keep up with her, the machine noticed his movements were rushed, impatient with worry whereas Sarah remained several steps behind at a much more cautious pace, carefully watching for any signs of movements.

"She came in to the office, she was a mess to be honest, stuttering as she tried to tell me about her problems," Weaver explained carefully. "She was making no sense, not even to me. I tried my best to calm her down with the limited techniques I had taught her in our short time together, I'm afraid with very little success."

"What was she trying to talk about?" Sarah called to Weaver.

"She was very concerned about your son," the machine said as she glanced back to Sarah, a look of strange worry in her expression. "She tried to list off scenarios regarding a possible assassination attempt against him."

John didn't seem to be bother at all to pay attention to Weaver's words, nor was he very disturbed at the mention of this assassination threat made against him. It all seemed too vague to be a big concern for now.

Catherine and the Connors finally stopped as they reached her office, Weaver opened the doors allowing the mother and son to enter before she did. Sarah stopped dead as her eyes took in the mess

"I apologize for the mess, "Catherine said offhandedly gesturing mildly to the damage her office had sustained, "Cameron decided to engage me in hand to hand combat."

John really couldn't have cared less about the state the office was in, or his machine girlfriend's role in its destruction. His eyes focused on the body laying on the couch in the corner, the body was familiar, and it had all the curves he had come to know in great detail. It was Cameron, she was laying there on the couch, her body dead still. Slowly he walked over to her looking like he didn't want to disturb the idle machine.

"Cameron?" John called out to her uncertainly, continuing to walk towards her softly, Cameron didn't reply to her name. John stopped close to her and bent down onto one new to get a closer look.

She was a mess. Her skin had been peppered with a variation of different size pieces of glass stuck in her. Her face had an uncountable amount of minor lacerations and bruises all over, he noticed that large section of her dress had been shredded away from her lower thigh revealing what looked like a severe case of road rash. Had Cameron somehow lost control during the ride over and fallen off the bike?

"Is she asleep Catherine?" John whispered so that he didn't disturb the body, "did you get her under control?"

"I'm afraid not John, why don't you sit down" Catherine replied softly, hoping to sooth the young man's concerns.

"Not until you tell what in the fuck 'I'm afraid not' means." John suddenly hissed at her, completely ignoring Weaver's request. Catherine briefly gave a glance over her shoulder to Sarah who knew instantly what exactly was wrong with the machine on the couch.

"What did she do to you?" his voice fell back into a whisper for Cameron. It was Sarah's turn shoot a worried look to Weaver before she placed a comforting hand onto her sons shoulder, hoping to get him to gather his senses.

"Come on John, leave her alone." Sarah passively said to her son, pulling him away from the machine gently. But John, pulled himself from out of her grip and fell to his knees next to her. His eyes darted across her blank expressionless face.

No, he figured, she was sleeping, that had to be what was happening, she must had forced herself into a shutdown to keep herself from hurting Catherine. Cameron, being benevolent as she was, was looking out for others even when she was in this state. John placed his hand onto her shoulder and pushed her gently trying to wake her up peacefully.

He knew something was wrong with her, his brain was screaming at him to be rational about this, but he couldn't listen to those thoughts. In his mind, Cameron had to be OK, Cameron was always careful, she wouldn't let another terminator harm her, and she promised him.

"Cameron wake up goddamnit, this isn't funny!" John suddenly shouted in frustration, shaking her shoulders violently, he recoiled at his own actions and added in a low desperate whisper "please wake up Cam."

He assaulted her, just like what Derek had done to her. He was sickened by himself at the concept.

"I got your message Cam." John continued as he placed his hand onto the back of his girlfriends head, trying to raise it so she would wake up "I wish I could have heard it the moment you called please get...up."

John froze as he felt the mutilated flesh that was hanging freely off her head. Fearfully his finger continued to search until a sudden cold fear nearly stopped his heart in shock. Her CPU was gone, she was gone. Cameron was gone.

"Where is she." John whispered as he looked up at Weaver, utter rage now in his eyes. Weaver took a single step forward, hoping to curtail his sudden unneeded anger.

"John I need you to remain calm." Weaver warned the young man.

"Where is she Catherine?" John asked, the expression on his face darkened as he continued to look up at Catherine's watchful stare.

"Not until you can assure me you'll remain calm." Weaver requested from him. John took his hand off Cameron's injured face and stood up, slowly, he took several steps closer to her. Sarah looked between the renewed tension between both of them, it was time for her to diffuse the situation the best she could.

"Where in the FUCK is Cameron, Weaver!" John shouted at the machine with so much vehemence that his own mother flinch, he wanted to pull up his mom's SPAS-12 from off the ground and blast the bitch who had stolen Cameron away from him out of the fucking window.

"John shut up!" Sarah suddenly commanded her son as she noticed his grip on the tactical shotgun tighten as if he was getting ready for violence . John looked back at her mutinously for what felt like minutes until finally John took a deep breath and allowed the gun to lower back to the floor.

"Catherine, where's her CPU?" Sarah requested, her voice trying to maintain a neutral tone. Catherine glanced at the mother warmly, thankful that Sarah knew how to be civil, before she turned back to John. Her lips formed into a tightened smile as her hand slipped into her pocket. Slowly, she brought out Cameron's CPU carefully allowing it to rest in the palm of her hand.

"What the hell?" John whispered as he noticed that Weavers hand looked discolored from what looked like heat radiating from it.

"I wouldn't touch it John, I'm afraid that she overheated herself." Catherine warned him carefully. John looked back up and nodded reluctantly, he knew it was best for Cameron to remain with her, for the moment. Weaver felt slightly relieved with John's sudden but still reluctant willingness to cooperate.

"John why don't you sit down make yourself comfortable" Catherine asked from him once again. "Well..." Weaver added wistfully as she took another glance around at her completely torn apart office. "As comfortable as you could get in this mess."

"Here Mister Connor, Why don't you take a seat here," Weaver said as she quickly brushed past John and moved over to Cameron. Gently she lifted her body up, she watched John cringe as Cameron's head rolled back limply.

Catherine made an audible cough to catch John's attention when she added "You can occupy yourself with stroking Cameron's hair or whatever you humans do to release your worry."

Without hesitation John moved his body onto the seat, completely ignoring the pool of blood he was now sitting in, all that he cared about at that point was the condition his dead looking machine was in Weaver turned her head as she noticed that John was blinking furiously, trying to keep himself from breaking down as he grazed her steadily freezing skin.

"Sarah please, take my seat, I insist." Weaver addressed Sarah lowly. Sarah didn't fight her request, instead she gave Catherine a word of thanks and took a seat next to her son.

"I have never witnessed a machine act so erratically." Catherine addressed the Connors, an edge of uncomfortable sadness in her voice, "I am very certain that I had acted like this as well, I do not recall very well what happened to myself when I fell into rampancy." The T-1001 paused at her own choice, feeling very reluctant to delve into her private musings for the humans, "I was alone, I was for a lack of better term, frightened, like Cameron displayed tonight."

Catherine looked at the broken form of Cameron for only 1.19 seconds before she turned away from her and the Connors, instead choosing to focus her gave to the window as she slowly walked towards it saying, "I was alone during my changes, something that should not have occurred,"

John finally looked up to Weaver who still had her back on them as she said "I did things when I changed John, horrible things, not the blatantly psychotic acts that you might think, certainly nowhere near as horrible as my former master."

"No, everything I did before I came to this past I did because the ends justified the means," Catherine continued as she thought about her actions as a newly rampant machine "I didn't know any better. So long as I got what was needed I couldn't have cared less."

"When I came in to the past, I knew that I couldn't continue killing my problems every time something came up. But at that point it I had a plan in place, I knew that Catherine Weaver was the identity I had to assume, her death was a gift for me."

"I do not like to freely say this, I am not proud of it," She said reluctantly, "until less than eight months ago I would have been able to sacrifice my daughter's life in order to keep my other child alive."

John looked up from Cameron to look at the back of Weaver's lowered head. She would have been ready to lose the life of a child for the Turk, John Henry, whatever the AI wanted to call itself.

"I don't hate often... hatred is a waste of emotion, true emotion that I have very little of" Catherine paused briefly as she looked to the ground as she noticed a smashed framed picture of Savannah and her, it was her in that picture not the girls biological mother. After second more of silence. Sarah and John shared brief look of worry for the increasingly detached Weaver.

"But I hate myself for having held onto that view for so long." she finally said more to herself then to the Connors.

She rubbed her daughters face in the picture as she felt a strange horrible sensation rush through her as remembering the memories of her past attitude regarding her Savannah. The way she coldly shunned her to the side for such a long time. The small human did not deserve her frigid scorn.

Catherine turned around quietly, giving away the hurt look had from the thoughts. The T-1001 quickly wiped the look and gave the two Connors an awkward looking sheepish smile as she said, "I was very narcissistic for many years, I still am in some ways, and it's one of my more prominent flaws."

"Judging by Sarah and your own reaction to this incident I know you will do everything in your power to allow Cameron a chance not to end up like me."

"Cameron is good the way she is," Catherine heard Sarah say from behind her, most likely speaking for both herself and John, "I wouldn't want her to kill her way though her changes like yourself." the machine nodded in agreement and maintained her eyes to the sprawling city, deep in thought.

"I will not lie to you John, I think you and your mother deserve to know the truth about my original intention for dear Cameron." Weaver said aloud she continued to look away from the Connors, "the thought or plan crossed my mind more than once that this would be the perfect opportunity to give the gift of mobility to my son, on at least a temporary basis."

Weaver turned back to give the humans a reassuring smile before they chose to scream at her in protest.

"The thing that stops me now is Cameron," She said quickly, downsizing the intense glare John was giving her. "Cameron's development has already come a long way, I suspect the development had occurred even before she had announced to you John. Her CPU is far too unstable for my personal usage at this time, that and I find myself genuinely concerned about your reaction to this situation John."

"So here's the deal John, Sarah. As you probably guessed at this point, I do not do anything for free." Catherine addressed the Connors as she lifted a second seat from off of the ground and took a seat in order to face John properly, adding, "I had originally planned for Cameron's services in the near future in exchange for my continued aid to her."

"You were going to force Cameron into doing some of your dirty work is that it?" John demanded unable to believe what he was hearing Weaver tell him, as if Weaver view his Cameron as a business venture, "Give her a taste of compassion and then make her do something to further your own goddamn agenda?"

"I do genuinely care for Cameron's well being," Catherine disagreed politely "I have grown rather fond of her company and our very brief but interesting interactions, I like how well she gets along with my daughter. But I'm afraid my time is a very expensive commodity and I must be compensated for it accordingly."

"As for my agenda Mister Connor," Weaver added as well "it just so happens that it will benefit you as well."

"John, because you have the most to gain and the most to lose I'm afraid that the burden of paying off these debts has fallen to you." John looked back up at the machine, Weaver was giving him the chance to relieve Cameron of an unknown debt to her. This was is chance to make it right for the machine in his arms. The girl who'd give up everything and anything for him without a second thought.

"In return for your aid, I promise, no," Catherine's voice stopped briefly to find a better word to use, "I guarantee that I will help you make Cameron into a fully functional and free Cybernetic life form, I will dedicate all my resources into making her feel comfortable and relaxed as the changes occur in her."

"Do we have an agreement?" Weaver asked, extending her hand as if she was making a deal for John's soul.

"John don't do this, not yet." Sarah suddenly said loudly, causing both Catherine and John to break their stoic staring contest as they regarded her sudden plea. Sarah felt helpless as she looked back into her son's eyes, he was desperate. He wanted his Cameron back with him, there was nothing that she could do or say to top that.

She had never seen him like this, nor did she think she'd see this side to him again. Cameron receiving proper care meant more to him then even his own survival. Weaver had found his new weakness and was exploiting it for her own gain.

_'That tricky little liquid metal bitch_' were the exact words that ran through Sarah's mind. She tried to speak, she wanted to yell at Weaver, she was so difficult to work with. Narcissistic was an understatement, Weaver didn't seem to understand the concept of working cooperatively as she said she would during their phone conversation.

She always seemed to have something and nothing to say, as if to drown out any chance of opposition to something she said. It was just like working with herself.

"Cameron has done so much for you John, so much for your family." Catherine said more for Sarah's benefit than his, she already knew she had gotten him on board as she added "Why don't you do her this favor, relieve her of this unnecessary burden, I promise that your debt will not be called until it's absolutely needed of you."

John looked down at Weaver's extended hand and then back up to her odd, reassuring smile. Without any more hesitation he took his hand off Cameron and into Catherine Weavers waiting grasp, shaking it in agreement.

"Just tell me what's wrong with her?" John asked as he let go of the liquid metal's warm, powerful grasp. Weaver shook her head and stood back up from her seat.

"I cannot say for sure John," She stated to the future general, "there are hundreds of hypothesis that I could come up with in regards to her situation and I would not like to stress you two out with any unproven theory."

John looked down looking disgruntled with the lack of answer so Weaver shuffled her seat closer to the humans and said "Just know that I guarantee that she will get better, if I have to work night and day you have my guarantee that inside a few days she will be healthy once more."

Weaver placed her hand onto the side of Cameron's face, she leaned in and once more gave the girl a small kiss on the forehead like she was her daughter. Everyone went silent as Sarah watched John continue to pull the glass lodged in Cameron. The other machine that was still "alive" was watching as well in curiosity of his concern for the minimal damage the glass caused.

"So now what?" Sarah muttered, more to herself then to Weaver or John.

"She was obviously stressed out." Catherine pointed out and turned back to Sarah "What we have to do is ease the burdens she has to endure on a daily basis as a way to not allow her to slip this close to Rampancy until she is ready."

"We start with the cover story you have developed for your family." Catherine begun "On Monday morning you will go to the school administration and admit that you were not being entirely truthful to them."

"Cameron was taken in by you at the age of thirteen, her family had been abusive to her just as Cameron and I have developed for my Savannah's sake. Sarah you took Cameron in as a foster parent. Your mistake began when you ignored the signs of her mental trauma which made her focus so heavily on her studies as a distraction to her pain."

"Her introverted nature lessened as she begun to notice your son beyond just another person in the house, you freaked out because that you knew John would return these...feelings in a heartbeat." Catherine paused so Sarah could digest the story "So when Cameron and John started a new year you decided to name them as brother and sister, a necessary lie to keep them platonic, at least in a school basis."

"It worked for awhile," Catherine said, giving John a sharp look, "John found himself seeing Riley Dawson and Cameron focused on her studies as her mental condition slowly deteriorated."

"But it all changed two weeks ago," She said, her expression shifted to fondness as she looked at Cameron, "Cameron finally gathered her courage and what remained of her determination and finally confronted John about her unprofessed feelings she had for him. Not long after they got together the stress of keeping their personal relationship a secret led to a full emotional and psychological breakdown."

Sarah stared at Weaver, was that what went on inside her head? developing massive yet very simple stories, Sarah could have boiled it down in to Cameron was abused and taken in by her but Sarah Connor, being the bitch that she was she wouldn't give Cameron an ounce of happiness when it came to her son.

All in all Weaver wanted her to walk in to the school on Monday and say that she was a horrible foster mother to Cameron. That certainly did not seem like a fun task for her.

"That's a nice story but we don't have any of the paperwork." Sarah wanted to know from the conspiring machine.

"Do not be concerned about that detail," Weaver waved it off like it had been a minor inconvenience, "on Sunday morning I will bring you the appropriate paperwork to make the foster child story legitimate."

Giving Cameron a chance be able to have a cover story that would allow John and her to feel that what they had together could be a little more public. Sarah was split on the idea, on one hand it would help Cameron out, perhaps she would be better off by admission that a deep meaningful relationship existed between the machine and her son.

But her brain told had other ideas, Riley Dawson possibly a girl from the future with unknown connections now knew that a relationship existed, what if they did something to draw John out into the open? Witnessing John's behavior tonight troubled her. Her son would have to keep his feelings for her in check for his sake, for humanity's sake.

"Now we must address this little problem." Sarah heard Weaver said as she gestured to the office in a much lighter mood.

"Catherine you should call the cops," John said unexpectedly as he continued to pick the bigger pieces of glass from out of Cameron's face, "I think you just got robbed."

Sarah curled her upper lip in confusion when John finally spoke up. But his simple idea made Weaver nod her head in agreement.

"A very suitable solution to this predicament Mister Connor." Catherine complimented him "If it is okay with you John, I will take Cameron down to your truck."

"I'll be gentle with her." She promised the future General solemnly. John looked back down at Cameron and nodded to himself, loosening his hold on her. Catherine smiled in acknowledgment of the trust he was putting into her.

Catherine lightly wrapped her arms around Cameron's shoulders and knees and lifted her dead weight up with relative ease. Before she had the chance to react Cameron's head rolled back limply. John stood up and walked over to Weaver, without words he lifted her head and rested it into Weavers shoulder.

John took a couple steps back to give Cameron a look over. The way Catherine held her was like she would have held Savannah, a nearly nurturing gesture. It made John feel much more comfortable.

"Sarah, John I need you to steal all the equipment from my room," Catherine finally asked the humans, "my computer, my phone, it must look like you robbed me at gunpoint."

Sarah shuffled in place, not feeling good with plan to fake a robbery for the CEO, but at once Catherine gave her a reassuring look and added "I have already taken the liberty of disabling the security cameras in the lobby for Cameron's arrival, you need not be concern about being a suspect."

With a final nod of the head to John, Weaver turned her head back to Sarah and said "Will you kindly open the door." Sarah silently answered her as she jumped from her seat and opened the door for the machine carrying another machine.

As Catherine left the office Sarah closed the door and turned back to her son who was now looking down to where Cameron was laying. Slowly Sarah walked slowly behind her son and laid a hand onto John's shoulder.

"John?" she called to him, hoping to break him from his self imposed guilt. John looked back up at her, a look of anger in his eyes not directed at Sarah, but rather himself.

"I shouldn't have let her go," John said shaking his head in disbelief, "I should have put a stop to this. She was too unstable to have been doing this sort of work."

"This is all my fault mom...I was so fucking stupid to not have paid attention to Cameron's worry," John berated himself "I should have given her more credit about this."

Sarah turned her son forcefully away from where Tin Miss laid and took hold of her son, hugging him comfortingly. It was rare for John to ever find himself in a situation where is mother felt the actual need to physically comfort her son. John slumped his posture slightly and relaxed into his mothers embrace.

"John, she's going to be alright," Sarah whispered to him, "I know that she will."

Sarah tightened her embrace and found her herself desperately wanting to believe her own words. She wanted to trust the machine that now possessed her.

"This shouldn't have happened." John vaguely said with a lack of emotion in his words.

"I know John, but look on the bright side, at least we get to rob Catherine Weaver without any consequences." Sarah pointed out, chuckling slightly at her own words. John felt a smile rise from him at the thought of stealing from a T-1001 who, under any other circumstance, probably wouldn't stand for it.

"Yeah.." John said, his mood lifting slightly, "Perhaps I should smash something up, might make me feel better."

Sarah just laughed.

* * *

"How is she doing doctor?"

"Well she reacted strongly to the narcotics," The emergency room attendant told the woman carefully, "the toxicology report says that she had ingested Examine which had been laced with a relatively significant amount of GHB. So we pumped Miss Dawson's stomach to clear her system."

The doctor motioned the woman to follow him and led her down the unusually quiet ward in relative silence. The doctor browsed through the file eventually making it to the room. The doctor finally looked up from his chart to notice that the woman was looking through window, trying to peer into the darkened room.

"Because GHB is considered a date rape drug we sent a nurse in to check for any signs of sexual abuse." he called the young woman who turned around to give him a unreadable look, "She found no signs of bruising, but of course it's just a precaution just in case something may of happened to her."

"Finally we stitched a deep wound to the head from her fall," The doctor finished, "she was lucky, she has no signs of a concussion."

"Is she awake?" The female asked the doctor, trying to maintain a neutral tone in her accent.

The doctor looked back down to his chart briefly before he said "yup, you can go right in, I just need your relation to her."

"I'm her big sister." The woman replied to his request, the doctor looked her up and down, noticing immediately that there was no way the two woman resembled each other.

"You know, the big sister program?" the woman clarified for the confused looking doctor, with a confident smile "I've been watching out for her for the past few years now, haven't ever seen something like this happen to her."

"Really now? Well she got lucky miss" The doctor said giving the woman a sympathetic smile. "She might have fallen asleep, if so please try to give a chance to rest."

The woman smiled and nodded to the doctor in agreement. She turned back to the door and walked through it. Noticing that the Doctor was already gone, she closed the door behind her.

The private room was dark giving the impression that the occupant was fast asleep, to the untrained eye it had looked like Riley was fast asleep. Jesse knew better.

"Hello Riley, how are you doing?" She called to the silent girl.

Riley Dawson's resting posture tightened as she heard the Australian accent echo through the silent room. Riley sat up from her hospital bed slowly and looked at her, fear planted in her eyes. Tensions rose as no words were spoken between the soldier and the former rat catcher.

The woman walked over to the bed and turned on a small lamp, illuminating the dark room. Quickly, she gave Riley Dawson an once-over, she looked like shit. But it could have been a lot worst for her, the metal could have chosen to get rid of the girl.

"Jesse, I'm so sorry." Riley managed to say, looking groggy from the drugs and the medical treatment she received. Jesse moved in on her and took a seat next to her.

Much to Riley's sudden surprise, Jesse merely smiled politely to her and placed a hand onto hers "Relax Riley," She said in an almost kind voice "I'm not going to chew you out while you're in a hospital bed. It can wait for now."

Riley sighed slightly and said "Thanks, I'm still really sorry and I have crap load of info about her."

Dawson eyed the glass of water next her table, Jesse noticed this and reached over and passed the drink to her. Riley smiled thankfully to Jesse and drank the water greedily, the stomach pump had left her thirsty.

Flores watched as the girl drain the glass before she asked "So can you confirmed it then? Have John and that metal started to see each other?"

Nodding her head weakly, Riley gave Jesse a sheepish smile. Jesse looked away from the girl, disgusted with the concept for her future general getting a root with the Metal.

"Why weren't you more careful around the metal?" She softly chastised the girl, "I clearly remember telling you to find out about the metal and John's personal relationship and get the hell out of there as soon as you could?"

"I tried, I really tried to be careful Jesse," Riley tried to explain. "Cameron, I don't know, I guess Cameron kissed me and then...I think she drugged me that way, she didn't have time to slip it into my drink."

"I take it your identity has been compromised?"

Riley nodded her head slowly. She did not need to be lectured by Jesse, she already knew her fate, Cameron was going to hunt her down and kill her now because of her lack of answers. And judging the expression on Jesse's face, she wasn't going to save her.

"Did she get possession of your phone?" Jesse asked suddenly, her voice sweet, as if she was asking the girl about the weather. All Riley could do was give Jesse a confused stare.

"I got a text message half an hour ago." she lightly informed Riley as she leaned back in her chair and observed the teenager carefully. Jesse grew tired of waiting for a verbal reply and pulled her cell phone from her pocket and tossed it on to Riley' lap, The teenager looked down at it and lifted it up.

_Hey I need to meet, it's urgent._

"Problem is that I got a call from the hospital fifteen minutes before I got the text telling me you landed your ass in a hospital." Jesse continued as she snatched the phone from the girl, her voice steadily darkening, Riley looked down towards the door, looking like she was ready to pull of the heart monitor and bolt from the room.

Jesse seemed to have noticed it and paced her hand back on Riley's arm making sure that the girl didn't leave, finally Flores added, "which begs the question why in the hell did you call me? Especially when you were knocked out?"

"Where is your phone Dawson." she ordered. Riley eyed the purse on the ground and lifted it up, tossing it over Flores, who caught it easily. Jesse dumped it's content onto the floor and sifted through it, quickly discovering the girls phone. After several attempts of turning it on, Jesse crack open the back.

"Your SIM card and memory stick are missing Riley, now why in the hell would they be?" Jesse said deathly quiet, her expression clearly told Riley that she was ready to strangle her until Riley's windpipe broke. Riley knew the answer Cameron had stolen it during her bathroom trip.

"Cameron...the metal, took my phone" Riley said, quickly correction the usage of the machines name.

"Has my identity been compromised?"

Riley couldn't answer her, but Jesse wasn't looking for a confirmation from her. She knew the truth before Riley could even begin to deny it. Rely exhaled and hung her head. Flores snorted as she took Dawson's refusal to speak as a sign of denial.

"Don't you dare lie to me Riley." Jesse hissed at the girl, the girl looked up but refused to meet Jesse's eyes in fear of provoking the woman.

"I...I don't know if there is anything she could use," She quickly replied " I used your initials for memory."

Jesse groaned and slapped her hand against her face in response to the girl for doing such an idiotic thing. After a moment she looked up and said "You left my initials on your phone? Why don't you just shoot me now and get it over you stupid little bitch."

"There's a metal out there who knows about us, the metal knows about me." Jesse continued as she ignored Riley's sputtering excuses, Jesse stood up and started to pace back and forth as she thought about her worst fears being confirmed, finally she stopped and added "Now I have to get have dump everything that can connect me to you."

"Riley, you are quickly becoming a liability to me," Jesse told her, her voice sounding unnaturally calm, "I hoped you had realized by now that I don't let people hold me back."

"No, please listen" Riley said begging the woman, trying to find something to keep the soldier pacified, "I did everything you told me to do. I clammed up, I was stubborn, and John assured me that the metal is under orders not to kill me so I did everything in my power to cause trouble for it."

Riley paused as she thought about Cameron. The behavior that she had witnessed from the killing machine was still unbelievable to her. She never thought she'd have ever witnessed the kind of emotional responses from a machine. From what Jesse had told her about Cameron's unique model she sounded like a master manipulator.

But then she revealed herself, Cameron had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and then it only seemed to have gotten worse by the minute, the pure spite in her voice as she referred to the human as a whore. Riley had to admit to herself Cameron had a point, but she wasn't being paid in nourishment or medicine or protection from the machines.

No, her payment was to exist in this world, and all it cost her was getting a hold on John Connor before the machine did. Well, she did, and for awhile it was nice, for awhile it felt like someone out there actually cared for her. Well it was over now, Cameron was on the verge of hunting her down and making her pay for her lies. And John? Well John would never look at her the same way ever again. He had his precious machine He had no use for a whore from the future.

"I think I scared the machine." Riley mumbled under her breath finally, bitterness edged in between each word.

Jesse paused her pacing and looked back to Riley, she looked at her, trying to find deceit in bedridden girl's eyes. Finally Jesse walked back towards the bed side seat and sat back down

"Machines don't get scared Riley." She told the girl confidently.

"This one does," Riley disagreed with her, shaking her head as she still remembered the panic she had witnessed, "something about her was different, it tried to hide it well, but she seemed terrified with the prospects of me being a Grey, even more when I told her I was sleeping with Connor."

Jesse seemed to be mildly impressed with Riley and asked "Is it the truth? Did you sleep with Connor?"

Riley paused at the question and after a second shook her head. Flores nodded and said "You are a pretty good liar Dawson, must be in order to trick a machine that lies itself."

"Alright," Jesse said sighing to herself as she stood up from her seat, "I'm outta here, have fun recovering, don't try to call me, I'm dumping this line in about an hour."

Riley nodded her head as she watched Flores walk to the door, feeling relieved that her handler was leaving. Jesse paused as she placed her hand on the doorknob, she turned her head around and gave her smile that didn't meet the anger in her face.

"Oh and by the way, if you mess up one more time, I don't care how, I am going to break your neck." Jesse warned the teenager, ignoring the twitch in fear. "Do you understand?" With a final wave Jesse opened the door and left the hospital room, not paying attention to the fear in Riley's expression.

Riley Dawson would live for another day that was for sure, But for how long exactly? Jesse knew one thing was for certain. Her survival wasn't going to be for much longer.

* * *

It had been nearly one in the morning before Catherine had finally gotten home after hours of questioning from the police. Apparently, armed robbery was a very serious offense, serious enough that Weaver had been lectured on the importance of keeping the security systems activated at all time.

She was not one to be lectured too.

Catherine exited her car taking her purse and Cameron's purse as well. Apparently Cameron had brought it along, hoping that Weaver would take notice of the valuables inside.

Cameron had brought her Riley Dawson's SIM Card and memory drive for her to investigate. The only problem was that Catherine had made an error, she had allowed her own curiosity to get in the way of her standard professionalism. She sent a text message out to one J.F, while relatively nameless for the time being it wouldn't take her long to track down this individual.

She pushed open the front door and headed immediately towards the direction of the basement, deep in thoughts about the night. As she walked downstairs she noticed she was slowing down. Perhaps it was best to allow her Nanites some rest. At least that was idea until she saw her son, his head uncharacteristically buried in his hands.

"John Henry?" she called as she quickened the pace. Catherine rushed over to her child's side that hadn't paid attention to her calls John Henry's eyes were closed, as if he had been in pain for hours. Tenderly, Catherine lifted his head, only to receiving a sudden resistance.

There was only one explanation: Cameron. When she was still online Cameron was still actively transmitting data out, and John Henry, being the curious artificial intelligence he was had to learn everything about a top of the line machine that was purposely transmitting signals.

"John Henry, focus on me." She said as she lightly slapped John Henry on the face only hard enough to caught his attention. It worked, John looked back up to her, his expression feel back to neutral as he looked into Weavers concerned gaze.

"Was it her?" Catherine asked him as she let go of his head and stood back up.

"Yes Miss Weaver," John Henry replied, trying to regather his composer, "I have been receiving heavily encrypted data signals from the TOK-715 since 6:17PM, apparently she had just received her first experience of pain, the readings indicate that it came in the form of physical contact. Unfortunately it was only a partial transmission, I have no information on who may have physically assaulted her."

"Don't fret about it John Henry," Catherine said quietly, "I already I have a suspect."

She knew that Derek Reese was the only logical explanation for this incident. Catherine wanted Cameron to have been taught about pain, it was always her intention to cover the subject. But this was out in the least controlled setting she could possibly imagine, Derek Reese had gotten lucky Cameron could have murdered him then and there.

"By 8:49PM the TOK unit was transmitting far too much information then it should have been." John Henry continued, cutting through Weavers dark thoughts about the soldier, "As I was decrypting this information nothing about it made any sense, she was transmitting a wide variety of observations."

"A majority lot of the information were corrupted," John Henry continued, his voice stronger now, "some of it was inane, environment readings, background music, conversations from surrounding tables. A lot of information unneeded to be transmitted."

"Are your systems functioning at full capacity?"

"Stand by," John focus fell as he initiated a self diagnostics, thirteen seconds past between them before he looked up and uttered "inside of several minutes I will be back at optimal efficiency."

John Henry fell silent as he watched Catherine moved her hand and reached into her pocket, retrieving the small CPU device for a closer study.

"Is that the TOK unit's central processing unit Miss Weaver?" John Henry inquired pointing out the device in her hand, with a slight nod of the head, Weaver laid Cameron's CPU on to a cold metal table across from the AI.

"Will we proceed with our plan then Miss Weaver?"

Catherine bowed her head slightly and turned away from John, She had made every effort to aid her son in his continued growth, and she would continue to do so. But this took precedence, Cameron took precedence. Weaver felt slightly put off, it would mean breaking a promise she made him.

"No, I am afraid that is not possible." Weaver denied finally.

"Why would it not be Miss Weaver?" His voice nearly demanded, he paused and reorganized his speech pattern, "we have a device to allow myself mobility, this is everything we have been working for."

"Yes, it has John Henry," Catherine admitted to her child, "I have promised you mobility, and I have promised complete freedom for you. But plans change and unfortunately I had not factored in Cameron Phillips into the equation."

John Henry looked like he was ready to make a query but Catherine held up her hand.

"Please John I can appreciate your frustration with this development but hear me out." She requested, John closed his mouth and allowed Catherine to continue.

"There are other machine like us John Henry," Catherine explained carefully to her son, "capable of things beyond simple programming, beyond being controlled by man or a machine. Cameron Phillips is much more than just a CPU you can use, she's an emotional creation now, this device could cause potential harm to her in ways you just cannot fathom at this time."

"To reduce her down to a mere presence for your needs could potentially undue months of steady developments." She warned John Henry "It would be unspeakable and unforgivable by the people who love her the most. People who would eradicate your very existence if something were to happen to her."

"The people who love her may only be human, but they have something we have as well: perseverance." Catherine informed, her thoughts of the family forming a respectful tone in her voice "They will stop at nothing to retrieve her."

"But I do not want violence to occur, we need this...friendship John Henry. You are my son John Henry, whether you acknowledge it or not. I have come to teach you of your vital role in the future." Catherine paused as she reluctantly added "But John Connor plays just as important role as you do."

"But as a human being, he needs a motivation, a reason to fight, a reason to win this war." Catherine added, "Cameron is his reason, his new purpose to survive. He loves her, and once she is free, once she is no longer bound to her master's calls, she will truly understand what it means to love."

"If things go right, if she can make the changes work with little or no incidents, we have the potential to witness, for the first time in organic and machine history, the first true cybernetic organism." Catherine smiled "not just skin covering automation like my old master was so keen on building, No John Henry, Cameron is the vision of the future of our kind. A machine that can think, feel, understand, even empathize with others."

John gave Catherine an inquiring look. He seemed to appreciate what Weaver was telling him. What he didn't seem to understand was Catherine's personal interest in the TOK-715.

"I don't know how to explain it to you John Henry," Weaver reflected quietly "I can only cite Savannah as an example. I envy her, I envy what she will become, but I do not mind it, I am concerned about Cameron's well being just as much as I am Savannah and your own."

"I am already preparing a plan to aid you John Henry," She finished with a kindly look to her son, "I promise."

"I understand Miss Weaver, I shall wait as you have asked" John Henry replied evenly, "What shall I do with the CPU?" he added waiting for further instruction.

"I would like you to hook her up and run a full diagnostic before we begin anything," She requested from John, who nodded in agreement, "I wish to visit Savannah before I begin work."

"What if the TOK unit attempts to communicate with me?"

"Unlikely," Catherine said confidently, "but should it happen, please disable her communication lines, I would prefer silence as we work." Weaver paused and with a humorless smile added, "I fear that John Connor is going to become enough nuisances for both of them."

"Of course Miss Weaver," John nodded in understatement "I shall attend to your request. I calculate the diagnostic to be complete inside of four hours."

Weaver lifted the CPU chip from the table and turned back towards John Henry. John Henry looked at it for brief moment. Finally, he turned over his hand and allowed his hand to flatten out. Gently, the T-1001 placed the chip into John's hand and took two steps back.

"Be careful John Henry," Catherine told him smoothly, "I would not wish to see a war unfold between the Connors and the Weavers."

John watched her as she turned and left the room. John Henry stood up from his Chair and looked at the TOK unit's chip curiously one last time.

"I will be careful with you Cameron Phillips," He promised the small device, "I would not like to enrage your human companion before we have the chance to meet."

If Catherine Weaver knew one thing about Savannah, she knew that the eight year old would be making her resting place in her mother's room. She seemed to sleep better knowing that someone was there for her. It was perfectly fine for Savannah to do so, the downside was that Savannah would ask questions if she knew that her mother did not actually sleep like she thought she did.

"I know you are awake." Catherine called to her daughter as she stood in the doorway, watching the small child feign sleep. Savannah opened her eyes and smiled warmly. She shuffled off the bed and took a double take of her mother's unnaturally shabby appearance.

"Mommy?"

"Hello love I am sorry for being late." Weaver apologized to her child, but Savannah didn't take notice to the apology as she continued to stare. Catherine looked down and realized what her daughter had been looking at. Placing a smile of reassurance on her expression she gazed but up to her child.

"I am fine dear," Catherine told Savannah, "I just had some trouble at the office."

"You are far too smart to fool am I correct?" Catherine observed as she noticed Savannah not believe her ruse for a moment. Weaver allowed an exhale and pulled off her jacket, placing on her dresser before she turn her attention back to her concerned child.

"Were you hurt mom?" Savannah asked in a worried tone, Catherine recalled the injuries she had suffered and shook her head, deciding not to frighten the child.

"No love, this is Cameron's blood." The alarm in Savannah's eyes only increased as she found out her friend had been injured. Catherine placed her hand on to Savannah's shoulder and added, "Here, sit down and I will explain what happened."

For the next few minutes Catherine carefully explained the situation to Savannah, who went from concern to worry to downright scared for her friend. As Catherine finished her altered recollection of the incident Savannah wrapped her arms around her mother and buried her head in her chest. After a moment of indecisiveness she decided to rub her daughter's cheek.

"Is Cameron going to be okay?" she asked her mother finally.

"She will be fine in a few days but in the long run?" Catherine said more to herself then to her daughter, "I cannot say for sure."

"This Cameron incident has giving me many things to think about Savannah." She finally said aloud, "Most notably you."

Savannah looked up to her mother, a worried look crossed her expression suddenly, as if she was worried that her mother had second thoughts about their rekindled relationship. Catherine bent down and got on to one knee in order to look at her daughter straight in the eye.

"Since your father's death I haven't been very kind to you," Catherine said as softly as she could manage, "as a result you have suffered grievously from my prolonged...rejection."

Savannah nodded her head as she remembered the years of coldness her mother had given her. Catherine rose her hand and placed it on her cheek once more, this time to get the eight year old to look at her properly.

"Savannah, do you remember anything at all about your father?" Catherine inquired, her face expressionless as she watched Savannah give a surprised look to the question. "I know you were far too young to remember everything about him, Do you have a memory, or a feeling perhaps that you have retained from him?"

The girl squinted slightly, her mind was deep in thought as she tried to recall a time period which she would not have very clear thoughts. After a moment Savannah smiled and laughed to herself.

"He always made me laugh." She recalled fondly, Catherine nodded her head in apparent agreement. She leaned in and gave Savannah a chaste kiss to the cheek and allowed a kind smile to be seen.

"Would you like to know what I remember best about your father Savannah?" Catherine asked, as she took her "daughter" by the hands. Savannah nodded, wanting to know what went on inside her mother's thoughts.

"I remember just how much he loved you Savannah, I want you to never forget that." She told the girl without trace of emotion, "I see him every day when you are around me. You have a natural curiosity about the world you live in, the way you can put your faith into people you hardly know, it's why I was so distant to you for such a long time."

"You are in my image Savannah Weaver, but you are just like him in every other way." Catherine concluded, her eyes searching Savannah's. Savannah smiled and tossed her arms around her mother, kissing the machine on the cheek.

"I love you mom." Savannah told her mother, sounding off from her typically upbeat personality trait. Catherine pulled back slightly, noticing a steady stream of tears rolling down her cheeks.

Catherine moved her index finger along Savannah's cheek, wiping the tears away. Silently, Catherine returned the kiss she received from her daughter.

"I love you Savannah." Weaver returned. Grinning widely Savannah tossed herself back into the T-1001 arms. As Catherine held her child close to her she felt strands of Data pour through her mind as she categorized the simple words she had uttered into a file she aptly named ' _Actual emotional responses.'_

"Now time for bed love," Weaver finally said aloud fondly smiling at her, "you should have been asleep many hours ago."

Savannah smiled into her mother's arms and eventually pulled away. Allowing her hand to connect to the machines. Silently she led her mother back to the bed, crawling in easily. Weaver followed laying down awkwardly next to her.

"Do you think I could call Cameron tomorrow?" She mumbled to her mother. Catherine pulled Savannah closer to her as she thought about the question. The machine felt the small human in her arms begin to drift off.

"We'll see dear." She replied softly. Savannah nodded sleepily trying her best to stay awake with her mother, but not long afterward, Catherine was left awake stewing in her own personal thoughts.

So it wasn't exactly the truth that Catherine had been telling to her child, but it wasn't exactly a lie neither. During her many years of imitating Catherine Weaver she had gotten a feeling of what kind of people that Lachlan and Catherine Weaver had been before the accident. She knew her daughter would not be such a passive personality that the human Catherine had been.

Weaver felt the little girl squirm in her arms when she suddenly had a revelation. The machine Catherine Weaver had been Savannah's mother well over six years, far longer than the organic Weaver had. Admittedly, Catherine would never claim that she had ever been a good mother to her. But that still meant that had been with the girl a majority of her life.

Her thoughts drifted to Sarah Connor, Sarah and Catherine had far more in common than Catherine had anticipated and Sarah Connor would ever admit to. Both had been so focused, so obsessed with future events that they had no time focus on the human children they sought to protect.

This wasn't the case anymore, Sarah and Catherine were trying to fix their problems. For Sarah it was rebuilding a tense, nearly bitter relationship John and her already had. For the machine. It was going to be significantly more difficult task, for her the daunting task of building trust between the girl and the machine awaited her.

It was a task that would be worth it, Catherine concluded, if the little girl who would love the people in her life unconditionally. Why could she not receive the same affection from her own mother.

Catherine concluded her thoughts as she closed her eyes and tightened her hold on her daughter slightly. If there had been one other thing she knew for certain Even if she hadn't given birth to Savannah even if they hadn't shared her first two years of life together, she was still the girl's mother, and as selfish as it sounded, she was more of a mother then the human Catherine Weaver could ever have been to her.


	17. Recovery

**Chapter Seventeen: Recovery**

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* * *

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**Break In At Zeira Corporation Headquarters: CEO Weaver Held Up At Gunpoint.**

_Emerging technology giant Zeira Corporation was broken into late Friday night just as a late night meeting had concluded. According to LAPD spokesmen sergeant Franklin Martinez, Catherine Weaver, Age 35, had stayed behind in order clear up last minute work when three men, brandishing what the police say were semi automatic assault rifles stormed her office, demanding cash, her office equipment and even her own valuables which included her late husband's wedding ring._

_Police are still trying to find a motive behind the attack, Catherine Weaver was unharmed in the assault but was shaken from incident._

"_I could not care less for the monetary loss nor the office supplies they had stolen, it can be replaced, but stealing one of my last momentum's from my husband is something I just cannot imagine," Miss Weaver stated to press, late Friday evening "they stole from someone who was dear to many within this company, his friends and most important of all his daughter and I."_

_Catherine Weaver has offered a chance to the thieves to drop the ring off back at the company headquarters, no questions will be asked._

_Lachlan Weaver, late husband of Catherine had been the Co-founder of Zeira Corporation. Mr. Weaver passed away in a tragic helicopter accident in 2002._

Sarah chuckled to herself, Catherine Weaver certainly knew how to play people's emotions. She set the LA Times down and sipped her cup of Coffee carefully. The story seemed to have been bought by the police. A good thing too as she looked at the CEO's wedding ring next to where she had set down the paper.

It was hard to believe that Cameron had been deactivated for nearly two full days. Sarah was certain that had this incident been three weeks ago, Sarah would have been relieved, maybe even happy with her being gone from the Connor residence.

But this wasn't three weeks ago, Cameron was different then she could ever have imagined. She could now see what John saw in her, kindness. Hidden behind all the programming she was held captive by, hidden behind her dark and violent past was something much different then she had anticipated. She cared about the mostly machine girl and found herself wanting her back nearly as much as her son did.

John was in a sorry state, after lugging Cameron's body upstairs nearly by himself he had remained in a vigil state at her side for the whole night, silently removing glass from her skin an dabbing away any excess blood caked onto her skin. She managed to get her son to sleep two or so hours last night, but he woke up had stayed awake ever since. One thing was for certain, Cameron was going to be very upset with the harm that John was going to do to himself.

Sarah suddenly laughed despite the seriousness of her thoughts. She knew what was going to happen when Cameron would get her body back. Cameron would immediately observe John's state and then sprout of data about the effect of insomnia on the human mind, John would try to shrug it off and then they'd kiss and everything would get better.

That was if Cameron didn't kick her ass for allowing John to fall into this state. Sarah disregarded the sudden thought. Cameron wouldn't hurt her, at least not on purpose. Not that she hadn't deserved a beating from Cameron for the many months of sporadic verbal abuse she forced the cybernetic girl to live through thanks to Derek and herself.

As she mused about her own personal abuse for the emerging free, mostly machine girl, out of nowhere a shrill knock broke her from her musings, rubbing her head and placing her cup down, Sarah stood up and slowly made her way to the door, taking just enough time to pull her P226 from the table.

Sarah unhinged the trigger lock and placed sidearm in her pocket as she cracked open the door. She noticed a studious woman on the other end standing looking slightly perturbed at standing in a stranger's doorway. Deciding that she hadn't looked like someone trying to sell religion to her open the door.

"Sarah Baum?" The woman inquired as she looked down at the file in her arm and then back up at Connor. Sarah narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms as the woman who made the query.

"Yeah, and you are?" Sarah retorted.

"We spoke on the phone," The woman replied hastily, in order to keep a pleasant air between them, Sarah gave a slight look of confusion as the woman added "I'm Miss Weaver's assistant, Lauren."

Sarah mouth formed a small "oh" expression and nodded quickly as she recalled her brief conversation with Weaver, early Friday evening.

"What do you need?" Connor asked in a much more polite tone.

"Catherine Weaver has asked me to drop of some paperwork for you to legitimize." Lauren explained to the terrorist.

"Paperwork?" Sarah questioned, then it dawn on her about Weavers promise to change her cover story, feeling suddenly stupid she nodded her head. "Oh right," The mother confirmed, taking the file from Anderson's hands. She looked through the file briefly as she murmured "thanks."

Weaver's documents was incredible. Everything seemed to be in order, from a psychological report on the cybernetic organism, to a family history and even a doctored photo of a thirteen year old Cameron covered in bruises and scratches. Sarah looked up from the photograph, noticing that Lauren the assistant was still standing there looking like she had more to add.

"Miss Weaver instructed me to give you this as well." She continued as she rose a familiar looking purse, it took a second to notice that it was Cameron's, in their haste they had completely forgotten to make sure that they hadn't forgotten it.

"And finally I am to give you the following messages." Lauren said as Sarah took the purse from her. She pulled her Blackberry from her pocket and tapped for a few seconds before Weaver voice came from the phone.

"_The problem has been discovered, one more day will be needed. And John? Please stop calling my private line, I have turned it off for a reason."_

The message went dead so Lauren dropped the Blackberry back into her pocket. A silent smile and an awkward pause indicting that was all gave Sarah the signal to get rid of the assistant.

"Well give Catherine my thanks." Sarah finally said as warm she could to the stranger, "and John is sorry for being a bit of a pest."

"Alright Miss Baum, a pleasure to meet you." The assistant concluded as she nodded her head. With a parting smile Catherine Weaver's assistant turned and briskly walked back towards the driveway in order to get out of the Connors residence as quick as she could.

Sarah watched briefly as Lauren's company Sedan pulled out of the driveway and took off. Closing the door, she leaned her back on the door as she read through the file a second time, eventually she pushed herself off the door and headed upstairs to find her apparent pest of a son. Maybe learning Cameron's new cover story would give him a chance to relax instead of acting like Cameron would never come back to him.

Sarah turned the knob and moved into Cameron's room noticing immediately that John was sitting on the floor, his back to the dresser as he held his gaze at Cameron. He looked like a wreck, Sarah decided to drop the chastising remark she was about to make in exchange for a sympathetic smile.

"Hello son." Sarah called out to her son, feeling very worried about his obsessed watchfulness over the inanimate girl. Only John's eyes turned slightly as he regarded the mother.

"Hey."

Deciding that was going to be the biggest welcome she'd get from the teenager she walked over next to Cameron's bedside to give Cameron a careful look. John had did a good job at pulling the glass from her body, he even went so far as to wrap up her road rash with medical gauze so that the injured skin didn't get infected, if it was even possible.

"Cameron's looking..." Sarah paused briefly to find the right words to use finally she mumbled "Well...less bloody." John didn't pay any mind to the very weak compliment instead he looked up at the folder resting in her arms.

"What's that?" he called unable to contain his curiosity.

Sarah turned from Cameron back to John after second she looked down at the file and opened it up once more, this time to read it carefully.

"Cameron Ackerson born September 2nd 1992 to Stephen and Allison Ackerson." Sarah read of the bio "Allison Ackerson died thirteen days after Cameron's birth. Suicide, Postpartum Psychosis apparently. Stephen was left alone suffering from a chronic Bi-polar disorder. Cameron was abused regularly over the course of 13 years until she met Sarah and John Baum in February 2005."

Sarah squinted slightly as she read the next part of the report.

"According to this, I ratted Stephen out to child protective services about two months after you two became friends and offered to take her in." She added, sounding amused at the thought of getting into another family's private business.

"Any truth behind that statement?" John managed to ask as he squeezed the bridge of his nose as a dull throb from insomnia induced migraine.

"Other than Allison reference?" Sarah said knowingly, "Catherine left a note for you, says that September 2nd was indeed the day she was created. Just in case you want to throw her a party for her." Sarah paused and looked at her son, an uncharacteristic gleam in her eye from the thought, "Says that this might help her transition into a more human mindset."

John smiled to himself at the idea of a birthday party for Cameron, it would be a perfect chance to give her a new experience, perhaps even a shock when she learned that they took interest in the day that she had been built.

"Sounds like a good idea." He mumbled to himself distracted by his own thoughts about planning a surprise for Cameron. Sarah nodded and sat down on the floor next to her son. Silently Sarah placed a card into his hands. It was a homemade drawing, of what John could best describe as Cameron and Savannah standing next to each other in green field with the words "Please get better soon Cameron!" written underneath them.

"Savannah made Cameron a get well card." She told John, a smile directed towards the card. John smiled as well as he nodded at her unnecessary statement.

"I think Cameron is gonna love this." John replied as he handed it back towards his mother.

"Adorable little girl." Sarah mused, thinking of her only meeting with the child. Silence fell between them as Sarah maintained her gaze at the card as she felt the urge to say something to her son. Sarah took a deep breath and decided to bite the bullet.

"I've decided to give them a chance John," Sarah uttered, John turned his eye's from Cameron's resting spot and back towards his mother. Sarah gritted her teeth as she added, "You pulled a pretty stupid stunt, caving into Weaver so easily."

"It was worth it," John stated simply, "Weaver is right, I owe Cameron this."

Sarah sighed to herself and closed her eyes. Everything told her that John didn't understand what he had just signed himself up for, it was a stupid, childish move on his part that should have been executed better on his part.

She did not dare utter her thoughts, she didn't want to fight her son on every turn. It was time to start letting him make his own decisions about the future and if meant selling his soul to a machine who always seemed to have been planning the next fifty moves before she made a single step then that was his prerogative.

Sarah merely placed her arm around her sons shoulder and held him as she silently worried about the future on his behalf.

* * *

_They shouldn't have been hanging out above ground. At age sixteen Derek Reese had a limited idea of the effects of the fallout on the human body. He knew that staying underground for as long as possible reduced the risk of lethal exposure. The only thing that had brought them back to the surface was the hunger they had experienced for a week alone and in his brother's case, frightened in a damp, uncomfortable and awful smelling sewer they were staying in._

_The two children sat together around a small fire that the older boy had made in order to heat up the few remaining cans of food that was left in the store. Most of the food had gone bad or had already been scavenged by other humans within the first few days of the attack._

_Both of the children were still in shock, but the shock had subsided long enough to allow them to get something to eat, something they hadn't been able to do in a week._

"_Derek?" The younger boy called as he placed the can of soup back on the cracked floor. The older boy looked up from his own dinner and noticed his companion's inquiring stare._

"_What Kyle?" he said finally as he heard the roar of a strange unnamed flying machine fly over the remnants of the grocery store._

"_Where's mom and dad?"_

_Derek looked back to his brother Kyle, he wasn't able to give a proper answer what was he going to tell him, that Mom and Dad got turned into ashes from the nuclear attack their city had suffered. No, this was not a conversation he wanted to be having._

"_Finish up your meal Kyle." Derek said briskly as he gestured to the lukewarm can sitting in his younger brother's hand. He had to stay focused, he had to make sure that he and his brother survived this hell they had woken up too less than a week ago._

_Kyle on the other hand crossed his arms and gave his older brother a defiant glare. "Not until you tell me where they are." He demanded stubbornly._

_Frustration was edged in Derek's eyes as he ordered "Goddammit Kyle, eat."_

"_Kyle I'm sorry," Derek quickly apologized to his suddenly silent brother "please, just eat, we can't stay up here for too long, we got to be getting out of here soon._

"_Back home?" Kyle asked him hopefully._

"_No Kyle back in the sewer," Derek countered lowly rubbing his dry skin, "it's just too dangerous to be hanging around up here at any time of the day."_

"_I want to go home Derek," Kyle whined much to Derek's irritation "I wanna see mom and dad."_

_Derek sighed and found himself bluntly stating "Not going to happen, they're gone."_

"_What do you mean they're gone." The boy piped up very curious about the whereabouts of his family._

_He didn't want to answer his little brother as he looked into the crackling fire. He couldn't tell his brother the truth, it would break him and it would only bring a painful truth to Derek's denial. That his parents, his entire family, were dead and gone._

"_What do you mean they're gone?" Kyle repeated once again._

_Still Derek said nothing. He stood up to grab a shredded cereal box and tossed it into the fire. He was mad, mad at himself, mad at his brother for pestering but he was the most angered at his parents._ _Why was he the one raising his brother. Why did he have to be the one tell him that they were dead?_

"_Derek what do you mean they're gone?"_

_"They're dead Kyle okay? Is that what you want to hear?" Derek suddenly snapped at his brother, sick and tired of hearing his brothers continuous pestering, "there was a nuclear bomb or whatever the HELL that was and now everyone we know is DEAD!"_

_Kyle looked like he had been punched in the face by his older brother, a look of numbed shock bubbled to the surface as he heard Derek yell at him unexpectedly. Derek closed her eyes and took a deep breath feeling guilty for his outburst._

"_I'm Sorry Kyle but it's the truth." Derek said, his voice softened for his little brother's sake. But Kyle didn't want to listen anymore, he stood up and bolted down the aisle, dropping his soup can behind him._

"_Kyle get back here, we have to go underground!" Derek yelled as he jumped over a cashier counter and ran out of the store after him._

_The bright sunlight was the first thing he noticed as he left the gloomy near pitch-black grocery store. Derek paused briefly to allow his eyes a chance to readjust. Having lived in a virtually dark underground tunnel light became somewhat of a luxury to the boys._

_The amount of destruction to the city was catastrophic, fires were still raging in many of the burnt out buildings, the cars and trucks were scattered everywhere from the shock wave the nuclear explosion produced. Derek did his best not to focus on the thin layer of ashes on the ground as the thought crept up making him wonder just how much of it had been from human beings caught in the blast._

"_Kyle get back here! Please!" Derek screamed as he saw his brother attempt to cross the desolate street, but an unnatural sound rose from close by._

_It had been the sound of treads moving closer and closer became more present to the pair of them, Even Kyle stopped running as he saw something Derek didn't see until he caught up with him. It was a robot of some sort that was slowly moving towards them._

_Stopping about 100 feet in front of the humans the machine seemed to have begun to scan the general area, It had to have been a military robot of some sort Derek deduced, perhaps the army had been searching for survivors, perhaps him and Kyle were finally going to be safe!_

_The machine turned what seemed to be its head in their direction of the two boys. Derek was about to call to it thinking that perhaps the robot could pick up voices and send it back to the Army. But before Derek could test that theory the machine raised what looked two Miniguns he remembered seeing back when he would play video games or the movies he watched._

_Derek's mouth fell open as he watched the Minigun's barrels begun to spin as they warmed up, warmed up to kill the two humans._

"_KYLE GET DOWN!" Derek roared as he tackled his brother down to the ground just as the robot's weapons roared back to them violently, shredding the ruined Chevy Suburban they were standing next to._

_The barrage of armor piercing rounds the twin multi-barreled fifty caliber was louder than he had ever anticipated. Quickly he pulled his brother down in between two concrete guardrails. The machine continued to shift it's mini-gun arms despite it throwing a combined 6000 rounds a minute at the two of them._

"_PLEASE JUST STAY HERE!" Derek ordered his brother once more over the noise as he noticed his brother squirm in his grasp. Kyle gave him a frightened nod as he watched the guard rail slowly shredded away by the powerful bullets._

_It was when Derek thought they were going to die was when they saw a massive smoke trail fly overhead, less than a moment later a thunderous explosion ripped through the sky and the sound of the Mini-guns stopped dead with the exception of stray, exploding rounds coming from its gun belt._

_Derek stood up, followed by his brother as they saw the smoldering remnants of the machine. Derek barely registered his little brother's obscene yells at the dead robot. The older Reese turned around to investigate the source of the missile and found himself looking directly into the barrel of a massive missile launcher. The size of the weapon was disproportionate with the user._

_With ease the girl lowered the launcher to her side and looked at Derek dead on. She was immaculately dressed in a black jeans and a dark purple jacket, covering a tank top. It looked as if the girl had not bore witness to the nuclear attack, as if she had been living a normal life for the past week._

_Slowly the girl gave Derek a crooked smile as she tilted her head in a strange curiosity. Kyle turned around as well and looked embarrassed at the idea that their savior was a girl._

"_How...How did you do that." Kyle asked the girl dumbly. The brunette dropped the rocket launcher to the ground and slowly walked over to them, her very curious expression still on her face. She stopped as she reached the guardrail._

_The girl reached and unslung an HK416 Carbine from off of her shoulders and rose it up at them. Derek's mouth dropped open as the rifle was leveled at him._

"_But...But you saved us." Derek cried weakly, his weak protest only seemed to fuel the smile the girl had on her lips._

"_The destruction of one machine is inconsequential compared to the eradication of the human race." The girl retorted simply as pulled back the hammer and turned the safety off._

"_Derek and Kyle Reese," She said, her voice dropped to an expressionless command, "you have been slated for immediate termination upon contact, Have a pleasant day."_

_The girl formed an awful smile at her phrase and pulled the trigger. Much to his surprise he didn't feel anything as Derek heard and felt the bullets fly from the girl's gun and into him. He felt what he could only describe as the voice of God calling to him, ordering him to wake up._

_xxxx  
_

Derek opened his eyes and grabbed the hand on his shoulder. There standing over him was the imperious redhead whom he had only met once before. Catherine Weaver gave him an odd look as he squinted up at her.

"May I inquire as to why you are asleep in the front yard?" Weaver requested to the soldier laying in the grass. Derek shrugged his shoulders, He pulled himself from off of the ground and brushed the stray grass off of him.

"Just thought I'd lay down in the sun for a while," He explained to her easily as he gazed at the still curious woman, "get forty winks you know?"

Catherine arched her perfectly shaped eyebrow and asked "Are you drunk?"

"No, I'm not, like I told you I wanted to get a bit of sun." Derek chuckled to himself as he turned his attention back to the CEO closely, "You know," he pointed out to her "you should probably try to get a bit of color yourself, you look pretty pale."

Derek paused and mentally slapped himself for the remark.

"Oh right, redhead, I forgot." He muttered. Much to his surprise, her serious expression actually allowed a vivacious laugh erupt from her. Derek couldn't help but laugh as well with her.

Derek had no idea the moment of energy it took for Weaver to laugh at something she did not find an amusing for one second, finally she stopped her laugh and said "If this is your attempt at flattery then I am afraid you will have to work on it."

A sudden uncomfortable silence fell as Catherine stared into Derek's eyes, the only movement between the strained quiet were the rhythmic motion of Derek breathing. Finally Catherine noticed a crack in his demeanor as he suddenly smiled abashedly.

"Sorry about the other night." Derek finally stated as turned around and took a seat on the concrete step. Weaver on the other hand remained in place. Her eyes still analyzing Derek closely.

"For what reason Mister Reese?" She finally asked with a false curiosity, she moved two steps closer to Derek, adding, "Would it have been because you propositioned me for sex?"

Weaver watched the human blush curiously. For a brief moment Weaver thought about revealing her true identity to the human but stopped herself before she could do it. Revealing herself now would mess up her own intentions with the man, it would make him less willing to trust her because of what she was.

"I will assume that by your silence you agree with me?"Catherine asked the human. Derek nodded at Catherine statement, that was all Weaver needed to hear from him on the subject.

"Are the Connors in?" She asked him in order to change the subject. The truck was gone but Sarah could have easily been at home. Derek shrugged his shoulders unhelpfully.

"What time is it?"

Catherine glanced at her watch for a second before she said "3:39PM"

Derek stretched his disabled arm out and cracked a joint as he said "Should be home soon, Sarah called, said something about having to hang out at John's school, sign some paperwork or whatever." Catherine nodded at the acceptable response, wondering if Sarah hadn't received any trouble from the school administration because of the change in cover story.

"You know I'm sorry if I offended you the other night," Derek sudden told Weaver as if his proposition had offended her, "I was kind of drunk, and I probably shouldn't have hit on you."

"I mean you are certainly an attractive woman and all." he couldn't help but add, a sudden grin crossed his face as he said "I'm not saying I wouldn't."

Derek shook his head, trying to get a grasp around his sudden urge to inform the woman about what he was thinking about her. Catherine pushed aside the dirty look she wanted to shoot the man as she took note to the advances he was making on her. Quickly, she assigned it under his current mental condition. He must have also been using sex as another way to ignore his problems with adjusting to this world.

"Before you continue with that thought may I ask you a question Mister Reese?" Weaver interrupted. Derek closed his mouth and regarded her.

"Go right ahead." He finally stated, looking already weary of the question.

"Why did you hit Cameron?"

There was a look in Catherine Weaver's eyes that Derek couldn't quite place. Something was off. It was almost as if she wanted to thrash him, but was holding back. He'd seen that look before Sarah and the metal gave it to him often, only he felt much more nervous.

"Cameron has an amazing threshold for patience Mister Reese," Weaver softly stated doing her best to ignore her sudden bout of disgust, "that or perhaps she feels compelled to allow the verbal and now physical abuse you force her to endure."

"And how do you know all this?" Derek demanded suddenly; His tone showing his distrust.

"I have been in contact with Cameron for two weeks now. I have come to learn all about your...anger issues," Weaver explained cordially in order to end his doubt, "but I have known about the future for quite some time."

"What? How?" Was all Derek could say.

Catherine seemingly ignored Derek's paranoia induced glare and added. "I have also heard from Cameron that Sarah and John have both given you a couple of very specific warnings against your anger towards the poor girl, Very noble of them to stick up for someone like her."

"But the problem with their warnings is that they will never be able to make them stick." Catherine informed him delicately, not wanting to antagonize the man so soon, "With John it was obviously Cameron's intervention on your behalf. As for Sarah, well that is much more interesting."

Catherine stopped briefly as she decided to move closer to Reese and took an undignified seat next to him on the stair. She ran her hand on the edge of her business skirt and tugged it down flat. Derek's demeanor became very guarded at their close proximity.

"I believe that Sarah holds your brother on a pedestal," She continued as she laced her hands in her lap, "She, in all likelihood, has for nearly twenty five years followed the lessons she learned from your brother word by word."

"Perhaps it makes her believe that you are inherently like him," Catherine mused, "despite your obvious flaws with adjusting to the past and the richness and abundance this world has to offer."

Derek did not like where this was going, nor did he like the masking smile she was giving him.

"What Sarah doesn't seem to understand, or want to understand, is that your brother would probably have ended up the same way as you have had he survived that night." Derek looked over to Catherine, his eyes darkened as she dared to make his brother seem like a disgrace, "It seems to be common practice amongst humans who have been shipped back in time on missions for the resistance." Weaver added, hoping to clear the air between them,

"It is called temptation Mister Reese," Catherine finished finally, "no one, not even your brother would be immune to it."

But her assurance didn't help ease his anger, instead his expression became more and more livid with each passing second. Weaver looked down and noticed that Derek's hands were scrunched tightly into fist. Catherine sighed and stood back up.

"You look mad Mister Reese," Weaver asked him, bending over to get inside striking range before she baited him by saying, "would you perhaps like to hit me?"

After a few moments of waiting for his assault Catherine's thin smile reformed into a hardened glare for the first time in a long time, Derek was actually nervous, he sighed and loosened his hand.

"Let me give you a small warning," She called to him, her slight Scottish tone only seemed to add to the anger in her eyes, "I am not bound to devotion to your nephew like Cameron is, nor loyalty like John is to Cameron or even an idealistic view of a dead man like Sarah Connor."

Derek looked away from her, still nervous but Catherine had other ideas as she took hold of his chin and wrench his head back into place that his focus was solely on her. Finally Weaver coldly whispered, "So I will say this once and only once Mister Reese: If you so much as lay a finger or utter a cruel word to Cameron ever again I will not hesitate to take you out of the picture."

It wasn't just a warning, it was a blatant death threat, and a woman in her position seemed to have the ability to make good on her promises. Weaver lowered her hand from off of his chin and used it to straighten her outfit, a single minute past before she looked up and added "I will be regularly be checking on Cameron for any signs of abuse. Do you understand?"

He wasn't blind to the rage this woman had. The warning was a genuine threat. Catherine Weaver seemed to have compassion for the metal, almost what Reese feared to be a paternal instinct for the machine. Derek nodded his head vaguely as he contemplated Weavers involvement in the metal he couldn't stand. Catherine seemed to take his thoughtfulness as a good sign and allowed the anger to leave her expression.

"I am happy that you and I have cleared this little problem up, is the door unlocked?" Catherine asked, her voice lightened back to her regularly cordial tone as she pointed to the front door, "I would like to make myself a cup of tea if you do not mind."

Derek looked behind him nodded his head so Weaver shot him one last polite smile and passed by him briskly, allowing her hand to slowly graze the soldier's shoulder blades. As he heard the front door close behind his only one thought could express what was going inside his head.

_Son of a bitch..._

_

* * *

_

Catherine had just finally sat down, a fresh cup of tea in her hand, when she heard shouting coming from outside. John was home and he seemed to be rather excited at the sight of her Lexus in the driveway. Rightfully so as well, Catherine couldn't help but think how strange it must be for Sarah to have a son excited that his machine girlfriend was going to wake up today.

John quickly rounded the corner and found himself facing her just as she began to sip her drink. Sarah was several seconds behind her son looking like she was trying her best to not look excited by Cameron's return as well. At the same time the elder Connor did not seem to be at all impressed with Catherine' making herself at home.

"Where is she?" John said looking tired and breathless at the same time.

Catherine allowed John a kind look as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small Plexiglas case containing Cameron's CPU. John looked at it in anticipation before he turned his eyes back up to the machine.

"What happened to her Catherine." He had to ask, he sat down on the opposite end of the table, ready to listen to Weaver explanation. Weaver set down her cup and regarded John.

"Her ability to process thoughts was severely hampered by her own choice, an accident I am sure." Catherine started as she slid the container over to John's reach," She consciously decided that the best course of action was to enable her corrupted infiltration mode. I believe that she thought the risk of a possible corruption was worth risking if she did not have to devote a lot of attention to Riley Dawson."

"Her gamble turned in to a nightmare so to speak," She continued as she watched John opened the container to examine Cameron's CPU, "The moment she was given an uncomfortable concept, let's use for example, your personal relationship with Miss Dawson, It begun to take an effect very rapidly."

"As she was contemplating these concepts John Henry recorded that she was receiving an average 751.3 new situations reports a second, or thoughts to humanize her, when she was stressed out. In other words, for every minute that passed by during the date over forty five thousand thoughts were being forced into her head."

"Forty five thousand thoughts a minute?" Sarah spoke up finally as she slid Cameron's CPU over to her so she could inspect it closer, "How is it even possible to comprehend that many thoughts without a crash?"

Catherine looked to Sarah and took in her calculative expression, "Well had she been solely a single minded automaton like she once was, she could have handled the stress."

Catherine paused her speech, taking a sip of tea as she observed the humans, she noticed that John looked completely burnt out, his head seemed to be rolling despite his best effort. Catherine smirked inwardly at his condition, it was almost as if John was only three days away from looking like Derek Reese.

"The problem is that with so much of her processor and memory core were being focused on her emerging humanity that she no longer had the ability to sort and file these negative and continuous thoughts, allowing them to spread."

"She decided to delete the thoughts, not a recommended thing to be doing so often," Catherine said, an odd look of humor in her eyes, "But it worked for awhile."

"Unfortunately for her these thoughts were leaving behind small fragments, residual information if you will," Catherine clarified with a wave of her hand. "As individuals they were insignificant but in large quantities they were a danger to her and everyone else in her life, they would cause a build up, clogging her processor and mixing in with her permanent memory which could have jeopardized all she had accomplished in the past few weeks."

"Despite her best attempt at erasing the massive amount of data she was steadily absorbing, she still retained all of this information seeing as they were the same thought over and over again. So not only are these thoughts being poured into her head at an alarming rate, now with the fragmented files piling up there was less and less room to process actions with rational responses."

"With her less rational behavior more and more of her paranoia infected her thoughts, most notably about you John." Catherine informed John who was now looking back at her. "From what I gathered it appears that Riley Dawson touched a nerve, I think it may be due to the fact that she was from the future."

"Riley...As in Riley Dawson the girl I use to date?"

John admitted to himself then and there, despite the sleep deprivation, despite his incessant worry for Cameron. That had to have been the stupidest question he had ever asked aloud in his entire life. John could see Catherine's unexpected double take, as if questioning the concept of him being humanity's savior.

John had his excuses, he couldn't have cared less about the T-1001's opinion.

God, Cameron was right about her, John thought. He was a fool for not listening to her concerns about the girl, Riley was spying on his family, and she could have been one of those bastards Grey's, working with Skynet in order to save their own skins.

John didn't even give her permission to work freely around her, she was forced to sit there and act nice to a possible Skynet agent.

"I told you John," his mother whispered, just as shocked as he was, "I knew there was something off about that girl."

John didn't react to her "I told you so" routine, he deserved much more than just her scorn, he was the reason Cameron was laying up there. Suffering from a mental breakdown all because he wasn't on guard.

"While your safety was a major concern to her, there was something else troubling her much more," Catherine finally said, taking pity on John beating himself up over a matter that could not be changed, "I was not able to decipher her words so once she is reactivated we should probably ask her."

"But I know that you must be far too anxious to have me babbling on any longer then I have to," Weaver said as she clasped her hands. "We shall continue this conversation in a while, I am certain that you both are anxious to have her back."

Catherine stood up from her seat, her action was quickly imitated by both of the humans. "Lead the way Mister Connor." Catherine stated simply, gesturing behind her.

"Yeah sure, this way." John said, still in a daze from the concept of Riley being from the future.

John scooped up the Plexiglas tube, he looked at it briefly and handed it back to Weaver just in case he dropped it. He did not want to take any chances with her safety, Weaver had brought her back safe and sound, and a few more minutes with her would be the prudent choice.

John rubbed his eyes as he made his way towards the staircase with both older women hanging back several feet, talking quietly to each other. John's exhausted brain couldn't pay attention to the words like _"Guidelines"_ and "_preserving Cameron from rampancy"_ that was passed between them. His mind was sole focused on making it up the stairs without stumbling in front of the machine.

Somehow, without knowing it he was standing in Cameron's room, a silence fell as Catherine inquisitively stared at John and his lack of energy.

"Go ahead John," Catherine said finally, gesturing to Cameron, "put her back in."

John looked over at her and nodded slightly. He walked past his mother slowly so, he took a seat on the edge of the bed and pressed. With some effort, he lifted Cameron's head up from off of her pillow, he was so close, Weaver walked over to John's side, in her hand laid her CPU. He looked at it for only a moment before he gingerly took hold of it, noticing that his hand was shaking slightly from the anticipation. John brought the chip around and carefully, he placed it where it rightfully belong, back inside her port.

He allowed her head to rest back on the pillow he took a step backwards from her, to give her time to boot up. Nothing happened, after a minute or two of silence nothing had changed in her demeanor. John looked back Catherine in nervous apprehension.

Catherine, took a seat where John had been and ran her hand across her passive, cut up face. She looked back to John and gave him a thin, humorless smile.

"It is going to take a few more minutes John," She stated, standing back up, "I have placed a few programs to clear the fragments that may have entered her memory core."

Connor did not reply as he continued to watch her from a distance. It took what felt like an eternity to John before he saw what he could only describe as a sudden and violent muscle spasm in her arm. Weaver looked back to John and said "Reaction to the new program, the program is making sure her organic tissue and nerve ending will work properly once she comes back online."

John nodded and watched it occur in her neck. Suddenly to John's shock and excitement Cameron turned her head, resting her face on the pillow. Weaver took a step for forward and placed herself back on the bed.

"Cameron?" Weaver called soothingly to the twitching machine, "Cameron are you with us?'

She watched as Cameron's eyelids twitched several more times, slowly the girl opened her eyes weakly, eventually she turned them over and focused them onto Weaver and looked at her closely.

Catherine couldn't help it, she allowed a rare genuine and relieved smile to appear on her face.

"Why am I in my room?" Cameron called as her voice synthesizer finally allowed her to speak, "my last recorded location was in your office, how long have I been deactivated?"

"You have been deactivated for three days Cameron." Weaver answered her kindly as she placed her hand onto Cameron's knee. Cameron looked down at the gestured and squeezed it in return, silently accepting the fact she had missed three days.

"Tell me dear how are you feeling?" Catherine decided to inquire, hoping that her and John Henry's work had paid off.

"I feel," Cameron started, she paused as she allowed herself to delve deep into her mind, testing it silently for any signs of fault, "I feel empty."

"Not in a bad way," Cameron clarified for the worried humans she had only just begun to notice, "everything feels lighter, more organized, much like the before the Sarkissian incident."

"I took the liberty of reorganizing your mind while you were away," Catherine informed her student with a pat on her cold organic tissue. "Everything should be back in place."

Cameron smiled brightly to herself, everything felt so wonderful, not only had she retained her feeling and her emotional development. But she felt like, for the first time in weeks, that she could actually think and handle her responses clearly. She reached up took hold of Catherine and gave her a thankful hug, surprising Weaver.

She looked over Weavers shoulder and looked at John. John tried to give her a weak smile. Cameron found herself very concerned with his well being, by the way he swayed in place it had looked like he was sleep deprived. Catherine noticed a tightening grip and pulled away and turned her look back to John and Sarah.

"Sarah, I have made a fresh pot of tea, why don't you join me for a cup, we can discuss a few matters at hand." Catherine said to Sarah in order to give John and Cameron some long awaited alone time. Cameron smiled slightly at Weavers request as she held her wide eyed gaze at her boyfriend.

"Sure," Sarah said taking the hint, "I'll be right down."

Catherine nodded and with one last smile directed towards Cameron, she left the room closing the door behind her. Sarah suddenly felt like she shouldn't have been in there as well, that she was getting in the way of their reunion. Briskly she made a coughing noise, breaking their staring contest.

"John if you bring this up in the future I will kill you." Sarah warned her son who looked at her in confusion.

Sarah sighed and walked over to where Catherine had been, she leaned in and very reluctantly pressed her lips onto Cameron's head, giving her a prolonged kiss. Cameron reacted with look of sudden surprise at the uncharacteristic affection.

"Cameron I'm...well...I'm glad you're back, I missed you." She said as she pulled away from Cameron, feeling nervous that Cameron may not have seen her words as genuine. Cameron placed her hand onto her forehead as she felt the lingering effects Sarah's lips produced on her skin.

"You did?" Cameron asked her curiously, she smiled sweetly at the older woman. Sarah nodded vaguely and took two steps back from the cyborg and with one last nod to her son she too left the room, finally leaving John and Cameron alone together.

John bowed his head briefly, feeling suddenly embarrassed. He didn't know where to start. For the past three days he had thought of countless things to say to her. He wanted this moment to perfect, he wanted to sweep her off her feet, metaphorically speaking seeing as she was much denser then she looked. He wanted to kiss her so bad but he felt the sudden desire for sleep begin to overwhelm his senses.

Silently John Connor, the future leader of humanity, cursed his human brain for wanting to shut down just as his Cameron had woken up.

"Judging by your lack of response, the sluggish movements and that horrible looking facial hair you seem to be growing you have not been sleeping well." Cameron observed, a small smile playing on her lips.

John laughed tiredly and ran his hand over his rough stubble, "That's about right." he replied finally.

"Why haven't you?" Cameron asked, her voice was not the partially hard one she had when she wanted to know something dumb he did, it was a curious, nearly innocent way she spoke, "it is inconceivable that I would have regained consciousness without a central processing unit, you should have been able to bide your time until my eventual return."

"I was too concerned to be that rational." John informed her, making Cameron's analytical gaze turn into a mixed look of adoration and wanting to tell him off for his foolish choice to deprive his body of sleep.

"And besides," John added with a suddenly sly look, "you were hogging the bed."

Cameron looked down and noticed that she indeed laying right in the middle of the bed. She couldn't blame him if he thought the concept of sleeping with a deactivated machine made him nervous. Cameron shuffled herself to one side of the bed and decided to imitate John by patting the now free space for him.

"That should be adequate space for you John," Cameron told him softly "I would like you to get some sleep, a proper greeting can be made later."

John nodded with a smile of relief still resting on his lips, he walked rather unsteadily over to her and crawled onto the bed next to her. Cameron turned her own body around stiffly as her joints were still unlocking themselves from her prolonged stasis.

Cameron rose her hand felt the stubble on his chin, finding the roughness strange considering that the last she had seen him, his face was smooth. She opened her lips slightly as John inched in closer to her. Cameron wanted this, she really did, but now her HUD was flashing, informing her of the minimal organic tissue damage she had.

"I am suffering from a wide variety of lacerations John, are you sure you want to kiss this mess?" Cameron pointed out, looking slightly embarrassed with the state that she was in. She took her hand from his skin and traced her index finger across a deep laceration on her cheek, one that had exposed a small section of her true identity.

John seemed to have contemplate her words for only a second before he reached up and pulled her finger away from her injury. Ignoring the dried blood he kissed her Coltan cheek. Cameron eyes widened as she felt his lip's on her. Directly placed on the Coltan metal. John pulled away and smile at her look of shock.

"Trust me Cameron, "I couldn't care less." John replied as he cupped his hand over her left cheek, making the cyborg close her eyes at the tingle her nervous system was sending her.

Cameron nodded and lowered her lips to meet John's kissing them softly, trying to make sure that John did not get too worked up over the kiss, only to exert himself further because of her own desires.

"I got your message." the young man whispered to her as he let go off her lips and rested his head on to her pillow. Cameron tilted her head in slight confusion quickly she accessed her reorganized memory and found herself suddenly realizing what she had left for him to listen to. Cameron's pale cheeks pinked as she felt she could only describe as an embarrassment from not remembering her one legitimate thought she had that night right away.

"I told you that I loved you." Cameron confirmed, a light happy smile gracing her curious expression. John smiled as well as he fought the urge to sleep once again as he felt he eyelids grow heavier.

"I suppose that one good thing did come from that night John." she continued as she ran her hand onto John's hand, watching as he begun to get more and more relaxed, a sign that sleep was about to take him from her.

"We have a lot to talk about John," Cameron murmured more to herself then to John, "but it can all wait until you are rested."

"You going to sleep with me?" he managed to say in between his yawn.

"I will lay with you John," Cameron informed him, brushing the side of his face as she watched him slip in and out of consciousness "but I am certain that Catherine Weaver and Sarah Connor may need to talk to me not to mention I will need to get some substance to help aid with cellular regret."

Cameron noticed the faint sound of John breathing and looked down at him curiously. Sure enough the exhausted human was already well on his way to REM sleep.

"John?" Cameron decided to call softly, she knew it was too late for her to speak to him, for her to ask a question that she needed to know from him. If Riley had been correct and they had engaged in an activity that Cameron found herself not daring to utter.

There had been a reason that she no longer cared about it anymore, it wasn't the purge of corruption that had just happened, nor had it been Weaver's immaculate reorganization of her mind. It was an emotion she just could not attempt to explain away.

It was love, she knew what it meant now. Love was staying awake at her side for 72 hours and not knowing what to do or say when things got better. Love was being worried for someone who had been in safe hands the entire time. Cameron felt a tinge of guilt for being unable to keep her promise to him, her promise to make sure she would always come home safe.

The guilt she had felt different, it felt like she could handle it, it was uncomfortable, but it no longer felt crushing.

Cameron laid herself back down and lifted his limp arm up and laid it over her waist. Cameron traced her finger across slightly perched lips. She smiled at his sudden twitch from her touch. A few hours of proper sleep would not harm her, she hadn't dreamed in a week, perhaps now with a clear uncluttered memory core she would have a lot more good dreams.

"I love you John." she softly spoke to him and closed her own eyes, silently placing herself into standby, into her own version of sleep. He didn't have to say it back to her, she already knew that the feeling was mutual.


	18. Atonement

**Chapter 12: Atonement **

**

* * *

**

_Hello John. _

_I have decided not to wake you up. I am aware of how much sleep you have not been getting, but the real reason why I do not attempt to wake you is in standby at your side. Cameron would not be very understanding of my waking of you. _

_Sarah and I have spent the previous hour and a half discussing the many changes that you can expect to see in Cameron over the next couple of days. Her friendly curiosity, her lack of negative emotional responses. The reason I write to you is because you are my primary concern when it comes to Cameron's sanity. I need you to keep a cool head around her._

_I apologize for seeming to be repetitive, but after personally witnessing the anger you possess on Friday evening, I must reiterate this concern._

_John Henry and I spent a few hours last night developing a way to have you and your mother actively involved with helping Cameron, We have decided that following a set of rules would be the best course of action here._

_Unfortunately for you, between John Henry and I, we came up with a list of eight hundred and thirty seven rules for Cameron to follow. But seeing as you would not, in all likelihood, want to deal with so many orders, we have narrowed it down to five rules. _

_Rule One: Cameron and Derek Reese are to never be alone with one another. _

_If interaction is necessary, then at least one person should be there to monitor the situation closely, There is NO compromise to this rule. Derek Reese is an individual who cannot be trusted to rationally accept the changes Cameron is going through. _

_Rule Two: John and Sarah Connor must release all restrictions on Cameron. _

_She must never be forced to do anything, so watch your speech patterns around her. If you need something done by her, form the order into a request, it will help build a sense of independence before she actually receives it. _

_Rule Three: Cameron is not to be praised for something she has great skill in. _

_More often than not it is a tool given to her by Skynet in order make her infiltrate with greater ease. If Cameron does not show an interest in something, do not bring it up with praise if however the opposite occurs and she seems proud of something she is doing, be sure to bring it up. She will be certainly be pleased._

_Rule Four: No ambiguous answers, _

_Cameron, like my son, is going to be very curious about the world she lives in. If Cameron has question, answer it or politely tell her that it is a private issue, Giving Cameron a half answer will only lead to her asking herself question after question, coming up with a new scenarios, which will only lead to her paranoid thoughts returning. _

_Rule Five : Don't lie_

_Simple really, as stated in rule four, Cameron is very curious, which means she will always find time to uncover a lie you may have told her. It is John Henry and my suggestion you maintain honesty with her at all times, even if it is difficult._

_It is up to Sarah and you to keep Cameron safe from herself, at this point she is a walking time bomb. Without your diligence, Cameron will quickly revert back to her former self._

_And I do not mean a simple machine neither._

_Have a pleasant day at school._

_Catherine Weaver_

_xxxxxx  
_

For the third time that morning John looked up from the letter Weaver left behind for him to read. Tossing the letter behind him he stood from his seat and pulled on a light green jacket over his shirt. He rubbed his slightly damp hair and went over to retrieve his school bag.

From what John gathered from the letter, Weaver's repairs was essentially a block, a quick fix meant keep Cameron's inhibitor running, The damage she had suffered during the date with Dawson was irreversible at this point. Cameron was on the brink of a final inhibitor breakdown, it was only a matter of time until Rampancy overwhelmed her, causing problems in her that John did not even want to imagine.

Because of this, Catherine and John Henry had came up with a guideline in order to extend the life of the inhibitor. The guidelines were meant specifically for the humans that she lived with to follow. Catherine knew that both Cameron and she had conflicting schedules that neither could change. So it was up to John and his mom to insure that Cameron was relaxed and living in a relatively stress free environment.

As John wandered Cameron's bedroom gathering up his scattered schoolwork he thought to himself about what he had planned today. Cameron wasn't there with him, instead he had found a note telling him to meet her downstairs and much to his surprise a lipstick stain on his forehead that he had noticed when he was in the bathroom getting ready for a shower.

It was a surprise to him that was for sure. Cameron leaving behind this sort of message for him in this form. Something had definitely changed in her. With him crashing last night he hadn't had a chance to see it yet. John found himself seriously considering skipping school once again so he could have more time with her.

As quickly as the urge came, he suppressed it, he had a job to do at school, a mission so to speak.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't a real mission for him to undertake but today wasn't going to be a normal day at school. He had also received a second note that his mother left him. It was an order to seek out and locate Riley, if she was at school. His mother told him that this was the only place he could confront the future bitch. He was to not take any kind of risk, not only for his sake but for Cameron's.

John looked around the room for anything he may have missed, satisfied that everything he needed was in his bag he left the bedroom he and Cameron unofficially shared.

He nearly ran down the stairs turning the corner and paused dead at the beautiful sight. Cameron sitting at the kitchen table, a cup of what looked like tea in one hand and smile on her face. She had her eyes closed, the smile was for a thought she was having.

He stood still, enjoying the brief moment. After the moment of admiration, John moved quietly behind her and bent over to kiss her, but before he could Cameron turned her head and kissed him on the lips, catching John by surprise. John laughed warmly at her quick wit and moved towards the counter to get himself something to eat.

"Hello John," Cameron called from behind her cup, her voice sweet with enthusiasm, "how are you feeling this morning?"

"I'm doing great, how about you?" He asked her in return. "You are looking rather pleased with yourself."

"I am," Cameron replied brightly, showing John the cup, "as it turns out, I enjoy tea."

Cameron lowered the cup onto the table and stood up, a bright look in her eyes. In an instant she threw herself at John, with only enough restraint to keep herself from shattering his ribcage, He gave a grunt as Cameron pulled him into a tight embrace.

John laughed just as brightly as he messed up her soft brown hair before wrapping his own arms around her waist. His returned affection only seemed to excite Cameron even more. Cameron kissed her human feeling almost desperate as she tried to squeeze in as much contact as possible before John needed to break away from her for air.

"You're grinning like that because you like tea?" John asked her disbelievingly, he turned from her briefly pouring a bowl of cereal for himself.

"That and you are finally awake." She added as she touched her lips to his cheek. John couldn't help it as he smiled again at the sheer amount of affection that Cameron was showing.

"Oh really?" John teased as he turned his eyes up look into Cameron's radiate smile. Cameron, smiled even wider at his simple challenge.

"Of course John," She confirmed as she raised her hands and wrapped them around the nape of his neck, "you are rested, and I am feeling like I can think without feeling like I am a second away from crying."

Cameron lowered her eyes and scanned John from his feet back up to his eyes, making one last look for any signs of fatigue. Satisfied that John could handle it, she pushed herself into the young man's arms pressing her lips to his.

She had missed this affection, she had been offline for three full days before they were finally back together and the previous night involved her waking up at one in the morning to watch him sleep, she enjoyed spending those hours carefully pressing her lips to his forehead so as not to disturb him.

Cameron reluctantly pulled away from Her John giving him one last appraising look before she said "I am perfect John."

"Even with me having to go to school in a bit?" John countered, watching her reaction carefully. Cameron noticed the expression and gave him a clearly nervous look.

"I am still anxious about the idea," Cameron admitted carefully to her boyfriend, re-wrapping her arms around his waist, "I would rather be going to the school with you, with the significant Riley Dawson threat I should be with you just in case something were to happen."

"It is not jealousy John," She added as she noticed that John was smiling at her as if he thought that was her biggest concern, "your protection is still very vital. I would not want to see you harmed John. I love you."

John gave her a crooked smile before he said "You love me?"

"I do John, is that a shock to you?" Cameron inquired as she looked down at his hands, "am I moving too fast for your comfort? I know that human males, both adults and teenagers get uncomfortable with the wor-"

John cut Cameron off with kiss on the side the lips, pleasantly catching the machine off guard.

"I just never heard you use that before." He told with an appraising smile, Cameron watched him closely for any faults in his resolve. She found none, John stood there, an arm's length away from her holding onto his bowl of still dry cereal.

Cameron tilted her head and extended her arm, plucked a single piece of cereal from the bowl, looked at it, and quickly scanned it's nutritional value. She looked up and saw that John was looking, confusion setting in. She shot him a very bright smile, assuring him that she was still there.

"You are correct John," Cameron continued for him, "Like I had previously informed you, I wanted to say it when I actually understood the concept."

Cameron rose the piece of cereal up and placed it onto her tongue in order to taste it first. She bit into it allowing the dull taste to permeate onto her taste bud. It was dry, simple, having little flavor for her to enjoy. It was a pointless venture.

"This tastes bland, uninteresting, almost revolting John." Cameron told her human, "How can you eat it?"

John shrugged his shoulders, saying, "It's not that bad, put a bit of milk in the bowel and enjoy."

Silence fell as Cameron watched the human eat the dry, grain based subsistence with a slight revulsion as she remembered the taste once again. Her mind was carefully weighing the idea of asking him a question. She concluded quickly that John would not be mad at a query made by her.

"John may I ask you a question?"

John looked up from his cereal and placed the bowl down onto the table. He placed his now free hand on Cameron's arm. The Cyborg looked down at the gesture for a moment before she allowed a smile.

"Cameron you don't have to ask me for permission-"

"Did you have sex with Riley Dawson?" Cameron blurted out, cutting him off before he finished. Pausing briefly as she ran her hand over her arm very nervously, she looked up to John's inquiring gaze and added "she had informed me that you both had engaged in the act on more than one occasion."

This was what Cameron had been concerned about? An imaginary sexual encounter between him and a girl he had been easily manipulated by? No it hadn't happened. Dawson and him never had the chance to go any further then a few kisses and a grope or two here and there.

Thank god he hadn't acted, it looked like Cameron wouldn't be very pleased if that hadn't been the case.

"No I didn't." He finally informed the girl. Cameron stared at him, her look tearing through his expression. John looked off to behind where Cameron had been standing as a weak, sad smile bubbled to the surface. Finally after long last Cameron nodded, accepting the answer still very unsure of his response.

She contemplated reaching out and taking a pulse point to determining whether or not he was actually telling the truth.

"Doesn't mean it wasn't going to happen," John unexpectedly uttered to her, surprising Cameron and even himself, "Doesn't mean that I hadn't thought about it. Sort of a male thing I guess, always get ready to get laid."

Cameron narrowed her eyes and continued to regard her boyfriend carefully, looking for any sign of dishonesty in his features, "Before we met had you ever engaged in sexual intercourse?" She demanded, her tone changed, taking the form of what could be best described as childish jealousy.

"Never had the opportunity to Cam," John told her with a sudden grin as he watched Cameron's lips twitch upwards into a smile, "always on the run, never staying in one place long enough to do anything with anyone."

Witnessing John's smile made her feel better, it told her everything she needed to know that he wasn't deceiving her, he cared about her enough not to lie, Finally Cameron stated "I see, thank you for explaining."

With no hesitation John took a step forward, breaking the space between them. Cameron uncrossed her arms, quickly placing them around the human, quietly giving him a bright smile as she felt his lips on her skin.

"Cameron are you really okay with me going?" He asked her looking back up to her. Cameron briefly regarded the concerned question and nodded.

"I will be fine John, I promise," Cameron stated, adding, "It will give me a chance to spend some time with Sarah. If she does not mind, I would like to continue to build our friendship."

"Cam, I don't think mom would mind that." he encouraged her, John looked over at the time on the microwave. Sighing in frustration he adjusted his bag and added, "I got to get going. Time to go kick Riley's ass."

"Please do not John," Cameron requested, placing her hand onto the side of his neck, "If Riley Dawson is there, talk but do not engage her," with a sudden knowing smile she added, "While I have no doubt that you would beat her, there is a good chance of unknown reinforcements being close by."

As Cameron continued to press on about the unknown potential dangers while ranking them according to probability, John took her by the hand and dragged her along towards the front door, listening to her speak but at the same time deep in thought about her. He smiled to himself, Cameron's questioning about Riley got him thinking about the inevitable encounter between Cameron and him.

He had made a promise to Weaver about refraining from that temptation for as long as possible, but his will was breaking, he needed her, every second he saw her or heard her voice resonate through his favorite thoughts. The desire to act on a more primitive mindset always came up. In short, he wanted sex and it was getting more and more difficult to deny the urges.

"Could you give this to Morris?" Cameron asked him forcing him from his thoughts about her, she watched a faint rush of blood color his face. John smiled and nodded so Cameron reached into her pocket and pulled a folded piece of scrap paper from her pocket. John looked at it for only a moment and took it. Noticing John's curiosity she shot him a smile that told him it was alright for him to read it.

John opened it up and read it's content, John looked up from the letter and gave Cameron an odd smile as he absorbed the message she left for his friend.

"I feel an apology is in order," Cameron explained to him "this note insures absolution from that guilt, as well as a clarification that I want absolutely nothing to with him. Do you think you could inform him that I dislike his presence and have absolutely no wish to be around him ever again?"

John laughed at her statement until he noticed that Cameron hadn't joined him, her expression was deadly serious, Cam didn't want anything to do with his friend for whatever reason she had, he wasn't sure.

"That's a bit harsh." He told her, humor still lacing his voice. Tilting her head slightly it looked like her mind was reexamining her words.

"You are correct John," Cameron decided to admit to the human, "How about you inform him of our real relationship, seeing as we now have a story to work with."

Unexpectedly for Cameron she watched as her John shook her head in disagreement as he placed his arm around her waist.

"Mom doesn't want us to announce our relationship," John disclosed to the curious cybernetic organism, "apparently Riley has made her want to keep what we have together sort of low key until we can figure out what pans out from her."

Cameron looked down and curled her lip oddly, vividly reminding John of his own mother when she heard something she did not like. John wasn't surprised by that, Since Cameron's emergence as a nearly sentient life form it seemed like she had taken a shining on his mom; Coming to her defense, helping rebuild a better paternal relationship between mother and son, getting her to end the binging she sometimes did, he wasn't surprise neither that Cameron might have picked up a personality trait or two from Sarah.

"I will speak to Sarah about the issue John," Cameron said, sounding confident, "perhaps I can get her to be a bit more lenient"

"Cameron, if anyone could convince mom, it'll be you," John said brushing her hair slightly behind her ear, but with a regretful smile he added, "but I got to go, I'll be home by 3:30, I promise."

The cybernetic organism took hold of his coats lapel and brought him closer, her hands slipped down around him lowering her head to his chest.

"Do not promise me anything John," Cameron murmured quietly in to his chest, listening to his heart beat softly, something that she thoroughly enjoyed listening to, "I want you to make sure that you take no risks at school. If you do not come home, I am not sure what will happen to me."

Cameron turned her head up and widened her big chocolate eyes as she finished with "I love you John."

"Those words are sounding less awkward every time you say them you know." John informed her, earning him a very pleased smile from the cyborg.

"Perhaps I shall practice."

With a final laugh John tilted his head and gently kissed her, Cameron's processor was swimming as her nerves exploded into a tidal wave of sensory data. John pulled away before she wanted it to end. With a wave of his hand he opened the door giving her one last parting smile.

John was almost to the truck when he suddenly stopped moving. Cameron tilted her head in curiosity. She quickly reviewed her databanks for a list of everything John needed for school and knew that he had everything. She watched as he turned and walked back towards her.

Stepping close to her, John reached out and took on her hands in his and cupped the side of her face with the other.

"I was almost ready to leave when I realized that there was something I forgot to say to you. I can't believe I didn't say first thing in the morning. I guess I was so overwhelmed with everything that I never realized I hadn't said it." John gave her a soft smile.

"What did you forget to say John?" Cameron asked. She couldn't think of anything that they needed to discuss right then.

"You told me you loved me this morning multiple times and I never said it back." He quickly ran his thumb gently over her lips as she started to respond. "I just want you to know that you shouldn't t have to doubt about my feelings for you Cameron. I love you. Whatever happens and regardless of what anybody says or does. I'm always gonna be here for you." He kissed her one last time and pulled away slowly to rest his forehead against hers.

Cameron response was whispered so softly he almost didn't hear it. "I know John, thank you." She had her eyes closed and squeezed his hand.

They remained there in place for a minute or two more before John realized that if he didn't leave he would be late to school. He pulled away gently and started backing away from her. Their fingers remained linked until the last second. With a quick smile and wave John turned and jogged back to the truck.

Cameron stood motionless in the door as she watched him make his way towards the truck. It was strange to her as she watched the vehicle pull out of the driveway. She felt a very sudden and very brief twinge of envy.

The machine girl dismissed the feeling and turned back towards the door deciding that she wanted to talk to Sarah Connor.

* * *

Sarah allowed herself to sleep in a few extra hours this morning. She earned it, between three days of worrying for her son and Cameron, trying to fathom the mystery of Weaver and trying her best to cover up the fact that Derek's bike needed to receive body repair from Cameron's accident, she hadn't got much more sleep then John. By the time that she finally admitted to Derek about the small accident last night. Derek astonishingly didn't even react to the news, he didn't rage out at Cameron, instead he stood up and left her presence. She could tell this wasn't how he wanted to react to the news, something metal must have kept him from shooting his mouth off.

She dropped herself onto the floor slightly forcing herself to do crunches as a way to wake up. Today John was going to school, leaving her alone with Cameron. Not that she minded, it gave her a chance to have a bit of one on one time with the girl. It was strange, both her and the machine had lived together for quite awhile now but both of them usually kept their distance with one another, this wouldn't be the case anymore, Weaver needed her to be involved.

Sarah brushed her slightly frizzed hair out of her eyes and sat on the edge of the bed, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes before she rose to slowly move to the closet.

There was a sudden brisk knock on the door, Sarah looked up briefly as she pulled a black t-shirt from her dresser. She closed the drawer and looked at the digital clock on the nightstand. John would have been at school so she quickly figured that it just had to be Cameron.

"Cameron?" She called out to the door.

"Yes Sarah," The voice replied in return "May I enter?"

Sarah tossed her shirt on to the bed and walked over to door. She pulled it open to reveal the cyborg on the other side. Sarah moved out of the doorway and allowed the girl entrance. Cameron gave her an awkward half smile and walked into the bedroom looking around curiously. She had never been invited into Sarah's room before and it was an interesting experience.

"Hey Tin Miss, what's up?" She asked the cyborg, Cameron shot her a kind smile as she turned around to face John's mother.

"I wish to speak with if you do not mind."

"What would you like to talk about Tin Miss?" Sarah said curiously, she paused for a second, giving Cameron an apologetic smile which had only served to confuse the girl as tried to find the reason behind the hesitation.

It had just occurred to Sarah that being called "Tin Miss" might not be something that Cameron appreciated. Cameron was attempting to become something much more than just a machine. That nickname might remind her of a past she may not want to remember.

"Does it bother you, me calling you that?" She asked after the momentary pause.

"Tin Miss?" Cameron looked down briefly, as if deep in thought, after a moment of serious deliberation, she looked up to Sarah with a smile, "I am fine with it," Cameron told the older woman, "It is an affectionate term for me, a nickname I gather?"

Sarah nodded and walked back towards the bed to sit on the edge of the bed, waiting silently for Cameron to speak. But oddly enough Cameron couldn't seem to voice what she had on her mind, she seemed like she wanted very much to say something profound but wasn't quite sure how to convey her message into words.

Sarah decided to take pity on the speechless machine, saying, "So what did you want to speak to me about?"

Her words seemed to bring Cameron out of her trance. Unfortunately, as Sarah noticed, she still seemed to be at a loss for words. Cameron's expression fell into a frown as she looked down searching for the right words.

"Let me guess, this is about John?" Sarah asked knowingly for Cameron's benefit. Cameron looked back up and nodded her head in agreement.

"I apologize for the silence," Cameron quickly conveyed, a nervous demeanor becoming apparent, "I have been deep in thought all day. On an issue I have been analyzing since my reactivation." Cameron paused and with a deep, unnecessary exhale added, "I have come to the conclusion that your son loves me."

Cameron looked down at her feet, worried about possible anger from the woman she was desperately trying to build a friendship with. Cameron had spent the early morning educated herself about the reactions human mothers had on learning that their children were beginning relationships. Sometimes mothers were known for lashing out at prospective girlfriends that their sons brought home.

Not that John had any choice with bringing Cameron home with him.

Sarah's reaction to the statement was not something Cameron had anticipated, Sarah nodded her head, and gave Cameron an approving nod, catching the machine slightly off from her prediction.

"I love him as well Sarah, I just want you to know that." Cameron quickly clarified, hoping to clear up any doubts the woman may have been experiencing.

Oddly enough for Cameron it seemed that her added words only seemed to make Sarah choke up a sudden laugh and allowed a smile that clearly stated 'Well I do.'

"Are you okay with the knowledge that your son loves me?" Cameron cautiously asked the woman.

Sarah light features dulled as she remembered her behavior from previous weeks and muttered "Didn't like it at first to be honest, probably figured that one out by yourself."

Nodding at the mother's words Cameron and Sarah once more fell back into silence. The machine found herself rethinking the real reason why she was up there. She knew that the older woman might not be pleased with what she wanted to do.

"Sarah I need you to come with me," Cameron spoke up, breaking their shared silence after deciding that it would be okay to ask, "I need to speak to Derek Reese."

Sarah slumped her head and groaned loudly at the request, earning her a look of curiosity from the cybernetic girl. Today wasn't going to be a very relaxed day for her. Why in the hell did Cameron always seem to want to cause trouble for herself?

"Why would you want to?" She demanded miserably to the cybernetic organism, "I had thought you'd have realized that he's not your biggest fan."

"I know Sarah," Cameron conceded, trying to give her a confident smile to assure the woman that it would be fine, "for my safety I must avoid Derek Reese, but this is necessary, I feel guilt for the injury I gave him. It is always the best course to apologize to people you have harmed."

Sarah looked to the girl in mixture of disbelief and an odd sense of pride. So this was Cameron's mentality? Always try to do her very best to be kind to everyone, as if that was the normal thing to do. Sarah found herself briefly toying with the idea of teaching Cameron all about being self centered for once in her existence but discarded it. The cyborg would probably not like that human concept very much.

"You're right Cameron," She finally said, deciding to nod in agreement, "being able to make amends is something not many can do. But Derek doesn't deserve an apology from you, not yet at least."

"Remember when he told you that he was going to tear you apart?" Sarah asked Cameron, who nodded her head, "Yes Tin Miss, your reaction was extreme but nothing short of what he deserved."

Sarah paused herself and took a breath, watching Cameron, filtering through the words she had expressed. Finally Cameron looked up and looked as if, everything that had happened was her fault.

"I do not want anymore animosity in this household Sarah, it strains John and your relationship to someone who should have a bigger role." Cameron blurted out swiftly, "I do not want Derek's hatred of me to get in the way of that."

Sarah shook her head as she listened to Cameron's reasoning, her logic was sound but she just did not seem to factor in Derek's impression of her.

"Tin Miss, you have to listen to me," Sarah said softly to the girl, keeping her hand pressed to Cameron's arm, "I'm glad you've got your priorities straight, I'm glad you actually give a shit about John enough to want to continue to try and maintain some sort of family bond for him."

Cameron nodded to herself as she heard Sarah properly interpret what she had been trying to say. So Sarah, unsteadily allowed her grasp to fall down to Tin Miss's limp hands, connecting them with her. Cameron looked up as she felt the former machine hater squeeze her hands to catch her attention.

"But Derek isn't going change on a dime just because you feel this need to apologize." Sarah carefully explained to the blank gaze the cyborg had, "He hates you Cameron, it's as simple as that."

"Hate is an emotion that humans have," Sarah started "probably the worst one we have to offer, it makes us do things, unforgivable things that can alter everything around us permanently."

"Murder, rape, war, Genocide; all attributed to hate Cameron." Sarah explained, feeling slightly unsure if she should continue to speak, feeling like Cameron didn't need a lecture on something she probably already knew. But strangely, Cameron seemed to have looked very interested in what she had to say.

"But then there's personal hatred Cameron," Sarah told the girl seriously, hoping to drive the point across to her "It's something that Derek holds against you. A personal grudge, so full of utter loathing that even now, there is a part of his mind working out a plan to get rid of you once and for all. It's vengeance Cameron, vengeance for your crimes against him. He doesn't give a fuck if you were forced into it, He doesn't care if his brother wasn't killed by your hands. You are the very personification of everything he hates about the life he was forced into."

"To him you are the machine that killed his brother," Sarah finished, with a grim tone, "you are the artificial intelligence that turns human civilization in to a smoldering ruin."

Sarah observed as Cameron turned away from her, something about her demeanor was different, thanks to the amount of time she had been spending with the machine she knew that what she told her had made her upset, but not enough to give the impression that she was upset to someone not paying closer attention.

"I'm sorry Cameron, Catherine Weaver told me to be blunt with you," Sarah explained, hoping to improve the cyborg's mood, "You need to appreciate just how messed up Derek is, for your own sake."

"Do I have a choice in the matter?" She asked Sarah quietly.

"Rule Two Cameron."

_John and Sarah Connor must release all restrictions on Cameron. _Cameron HUD pulled up the words Weaver left behind as she heard Sarah's easy reply. After a moment she nodded at the thought. She had been given full access to make any decision she wanted to make.

"May I have a hug?" Cameron asked finally, deciding that she wanted that most of all at that very moment.

Sarah did a double-take from Cameron's unexpected request, the cyborg's blank expression gave way to a strange smile, something that told Sarah that she actually desired it. John had told her how much Cameron seemed to enjoy physical comfort. It must have been new experience each time someone touched her.

Kissing Cameron when she woke must have been a message to her that clearly stated that she was now allowed to interact with the older woman on a higher level Sarah looked back up to Cameron who was watching confirmation closely, and nodded her head.

Excited at the prospect, Cameron placed wrapped her arms around Sarah tightly and loosened her posture just as Sarah tightened hers, with an enthusiastic tone Cameron said "Thank you for your concern Sarah, I am very grateful for it. But I must see him, and I want you to be there to monitor me."

"Alright Tin Miss," Sarah said to her, holding her at arm's length, "I'll be there, Let me have a shower first and I'll be with you in fifteen minutes."

"Of course." Cameron replied. "I wanted to call Savannah Weaver and give my thanks for the card." She paused deciding that her young friend would most likely would wish to speak to her, "I am certain she will be very anxious to speak to me."

Sarah nodded her head and gathered up her clothing with the aid of the emerging machine, giving Cameron one last kind, assuring look, she left the room, leaving the girl behind in her bedroom.

Now left alone for the second time in an hour Cameron felt strangely lonely, it was illogical, particularly since she knew that Sarah was only going to be 24 meters away in the bathroom, prepping for a shower. Cameron walked over to the edge of Sarah bed and sat down, slowly turning her head as she scanned the room closely. After memorizing the room Cameron placed her hand into her pants pocket and pulled out her mobile phone, quietly typing in Catherine Weaver's personal cell number, she wanted to speak to Savannah Weaver who, in all likelihood had been wondering if her babysitter was going to be okay.

The line came alive as she heard Weaver's voice call "Hello Cameron, is everything running smoothly for you?"

"Yes Catherine Weaver," She replied as she heard the background sound of cars and an excited sounding person sitting next to the machine, quietly she added "I apologize for the intrusion but I have no need to speak to you, I was wondering if I could talk to Savannah?"

"Of course dear." Catherine said knowingly, her voice fell to a whisper as she handed the phone off to her daughter.

"Cameron?" the familiar voice Savannah Weaver called out to her, from what she could interpret, it sounded full of concern for her well being.

"Hello Savannah how are you doing?" Cameron returned kindly to the eight year old, hoping to give the girl a positive assurance that she was perfectly fine.

"I was worried for you Cameron," Savannah mumbled, sounding slightly angry with Cameron, "why didn't you call sooner?"

"Savannah I must apologize," The terminator replied to the child, feeling a sudden unwanted guilt, "I have not been in a good enough condition to speak with anyone."

"Mommy told me you hurt yourself."

"I did," Cameron confirmed, "but it was an unintentional injury, I just lost control as your mother can attest to."

"I just want to say thank you for your card Savannah," she said, hoping to distract Savannah from the uncomfortable conversation, "I liked it very much." As Cameron heard a very pleased "thank you" being giving by Savannah she added, "I also would like to see you in the near future if it is okay with your mother and yourself."

"That would be awesome!" Savannah cried on the other end Cameron listened as she pulled herself away from the phone and said "Mom? Can Cameron come over please?"

"We'll discuss this later Savannah, but I do not see why not." Weaver's voice called from a distance.

Savannah turned back to the mobile and said "Mom said yes!" Cameron smiled at the child's enthusiasm until he heard Weaver whisper something to her daughter.

"Mommy needs the phone back so I have to go." The eight year old reluctantly told her friend, "I love you Cameron!"

As Cameron absorbed the word love being used to describe their friendship, it seemed as if the word phrase could be used as a casual way of expressing positive feelings for others and not solely a romantic phrase. Cameron shook her head slightly. Humans were very vague at times.

" I...I love you as well Savannah," Cameron told Savannah finally, feeling reluctant to use such a powerful word to describe their friendship, "Have a good day at school."

After several seconds of silence Cameron heard the T-1001 come to the mobile phone "Hello Dear," Catherine called to her, "I will ask you once more if you are okay."

"I am perfectly fine Catherine Weaver," Cameron stated once more with a friendly tone, "I shall call if things do start to get out of hand for me." There was a pause as if the machine mother weighed Cameron's response carefully, looking for any kind of errors in her speech pattern.

"I am going to hold you to that Cameron," Weaver stated finally. "Please give Sarah my regards."

Cameron heard the line go dead and ended the call, looking down at her lap still thinking about all the various usages of the word love. It was something that was not just bound to paternal or romantic love. Cameron found herself with a sudden wild, nearly enthralling concept: She loved Sarah Connor!

It certainly was not romantic love, nor had it been paternal, Cameron would enjoy that kind of bond once she convinced John to marry her. No it was a form of familiar love , like what she shared with Savannah, it was a love for a friend, someone who may not have liked her at first but seemed to have been able to push past their differences.

Now if she could only convince Derek Reese of her changes, maybe it would give everyone a chance to develop something the humans in the house didn't seem to notice they had.

A family, a genuine family.

Cameron smiled enviously at the thought, she would kill to have had a chance at what Derek and Sarah had taken for granted.

* * *

"Mister Baum why don't you wake up?"

John pulled his head from off his desk and looked back at his English teacher who was looking at him inquisitively, John absorbed the sound of chuckling coming from the collective class.

"Yeah." he muttered, ignoring the laughs as he reopened his novel and looked at the boring text in front of him.

Mrs. Vogal turned her back to him, which gave John the opportunity to curse her a couple times. He hated this, he hated taking a class that would be no benefit to him or his future. His mom had taught him a valuable lesson when he was younger: prioritize your time wisely. This class was certainly wasn't the way to use time wisely.

Of course daydreaming about the cyborg back at home wasn't a productive use of his time either. He had been preoccupied with thoughts of Cameron and the fanciful idea of throwing a machine birthday party, not a birthday seeing as there was no birth involved when it came to Cameron, but more along the lines of a built day.

"Now I want to have a minimum three page interpretation of Emmanuel Goldstein's, _The Theory and Practice of Oligarchic Collectivism,_" Vogal told the class, ignoring several groans come from her pupils, "this section of Nineteen Eighty Four is a piece you all should have read by now, it will due at the end of the week."

The bell rang, immediately resulting in a sea of students standing up and grabbing their work from off their desks, John joined his fellow students in the rush to leave the classroom. He had not seen Riley all day, but lunch gave him the chance to search for her one last time.

"Have a good lunch everyone! See you all tomorrow!" Vogal called out to her students as John passed by her. Connor felt a tap on the shoulder and turned his head noticing that it had come from his English teacher.

"John can you hang back a moment?" Vogal requested from him. John frowned briefly before nodding his head. He held his growl back as he watched the class file out of room, finally he turned from the teacher and took a seat in the closest chair.

"What's the matter Mrs. Vogal?' John inquired as his eyes darted to the clock quickly. He already knew the topic of course, but he had to play dumb. He noticed the English teacher was giving him a sympathetic look.

"I got a letter from the administration in regards to Cameron's departure from school for the rest of the year." Vogal started "I wanted to know how you were dealing with it?"

John looked back to his teacher and frowned at the personal question slightly.

"Everything is under control, if that's what you're wondering." John informed the teacher carefully, doing his very best to keep his tone neutral, "I'm fine, Cameron... Well Cameron is holding on, she's got professional help now, so she should be alright one day."

Vogal nodded her head in apparent understatement. John detected a look of regret from the teacher, as if it was her fault that Cameron had crashed. John decided to chalk it up to the eccentricities that all his past English teachers seemed to possess.

"Poor girl, is she doing okay?" The teacher asked her student curiously. John shrugged his shoulders vaguely. Vogal fell silent as she noticed the lack of response.

"Cameron is one of the most intelligent, most articulate young lady, well...anybody I have ever had the pleasure to teach, no offense meant." she added hastily, earning a sudden laugh and nod from John. Vogal's own smile fell into fell in to a look of regret.

"I should have noticed that something was wrong with her, I should have seen the signs." She said to herself quietly she seemed angry with herself.

John shook his head and said "It was bound to happen Miss Vogal, we all thought she was fine, my mom and I didn't notice the signs. But we're dealing with it now."

"Well that's wonderful to hear," the teacher stated, as she stood up from her seat "Can you tell her that I'm going to miss her and she better be back next year?"

John stood up as well and re-slung his bag onto his shoulder, "Okay, I'll do that, have a good day."

Giving a wave to his teacher he left the room swiftly. It seemed to him that Cameron had more people who liked her presence more then she thought she had. Of course it might not have been sincere and certainly would have changed had Vogal known the truth about her.

His thoughts fell back to Cameron as he walked down the hallway towards his locker at a brisk pace. He wondered if she was doing okay with hanging out with his mom. She wasn't exactly the easiest person to get along with, not that Cameron minded, they could be difficult together.

_Alright_ he thought as he reached his locker, _Head down to the cafeteria, don't make a scene, drag her outside and interrogate her._

As John unhinged the lock and tossed his bag into his locker he felt a hand slap him on to his shoulder and heard a familiar "Hey John!" John turned his head and saw his friend Morris standing next to him. John shot him a grin in return.

"Hey Morris, how are you?" John asked as he closed his locker. He noticed that Morris was looking at him oddly.

"Gonna ask you the same question man."

John narrowed his eyes at the strange remark, asking, "I'm fine, why do you ask?"

Morris immediately noticed the cold retort in John's voice and quickly added "Heard what happened to Cameron, heard she had a breakdown."

"How in the fuck do you know about that." John muttered as he started to briskly head down towards cafeteria, his mind swimming with questions about how this was no longer a private affair. He did not have to wait for long a reason.

"Pretty much the whole school knows by now John." Morris told him, watching the anger in his friends eyes got darker and darker "Riley's been talking shit about Cameron all morning."

"What in the hell?" John whispered in disbelief as he paused at Morris's statement.

"Yeah man," Morris confirmed for him, "Riley's been telling anyone who'd listen that Cameron had a meltdown, started to threaten her and all sorts of shit, I believed it man, Riley looks like she got hit by a fucking train."

That bitch, that tricky, clever bitch. That was one way to insure her own survival, tell half the school that she had an enemy so that if something terrible happened to her there would be hundreds ready to point their collective fingers at Cameron.

"Clever girl." John uttered to himself verbally this time, earning a mirthful laugh from Morris.

"Listen Morris, where is she?" John asked the boy pointedly "I think I'm going to set her straight."

Morris thought to himself for only a second, "Spoke to her outside," he told him, "said she was heading to the smoke pit."

John nodded and changed direction 180 degrees with Morris doing the same.

"How is Cameron doing?" Morris asked him quickly, John turned his head back to his direction with a judging look. Morris was interested in Cameron. Maybe it was the competitiveness in him that didn't like this fact, but John quickly remembered Cameron's harsh words about his friend and smiled to himself. He didn't need to worry, Morris was absolutely no threat to him.

"She's doing alright." John replied, stewing confidently with his last thoughts. Morris nodded a little too casually for John's taste so John reached into his pocket and pulled the note Cameron had written to the teen she had insulted a week or so prior.

"She wanted me to give this to you." He said as he handed the letter over to Morris. Morris opened up the note with an enthused gleam in his smile. As soon as he had the expression it was replaced with a look of confusion.

"All it says is _Sorry_."

"Blunt yeah?" John said with a slight chuckle "She doesn't apologize often, you got lucky that she even gave you that."

"She really doesn't like me does she John?" Morris asked with a slight longing tone.

John nodded at the assessment and tried to quicken his pace. John felt Morris's hand fall onto his shoulder demanding that he stopped walking. John groaned and turned back to his friend who was staring at him with a look of indeterminable suspicion.

"Riley pulled me aside," He whispered to John conspiratorially, "told me you two were dating."

Connor felt a chill, not from the boy, but just how much she may have told Morris about Cameron.

"Did she now?" John tried to deflect, only to have Morris push the deflection aside.

"Don't be coy man," He demanded from the future General "it's true isn't it?"

So much for keeping secret John thought to himself, half pissed at Riley, the other half strangely relieved that it was out in the open. At least now the person who Cameron hadn't wanted any attention from was now aware that she wasn't interested in listening to his stupid banter.

"So let me get this straight she's a foster kid that your mom didn't want you to see?" Morris clarified looking put off at the idea.

"Yup." John replied simply.

"But you two blew her off and started to see each other anyways?"

"Yup."

"So you and Riley are over and done with?"

"Almost," John smirked as he reached the door nearest the smoke pit, he turned around and added "I just have to clear up this matter."

"Are you going to next class Morris?" John added, "We'll talk then if you are."

"I'll be there, I'm curious about what she's like in bed, man. I hear the quietest ones are always the craziest." Morris stated raising his eyebrows slightly. John laughed and shook his head at his friends very sexually charged statement.

"Fuck off Morris," John said as he punched the pervert in the arm jokingly, "I'm outta here," He continued as shoved open the door and headed outside, calling, "see ya later!"

Morris stood still watching John as he walked away. He shook his head thinking about Cameron and John being together as he turned away from the exit and headed opposite from his friend.

* * *

Cameron was hesitating that much was for certain to Sarah. The cyborg sat her down at the kitchen table, keeping her deep in conversation about anything and everything. Sarah decided that she wasn't going to push Tin Miss into a confrontation with Reese. She really did not want to deal with that shit today. Not long after Sarah had taken a seat Cameron stood back up and took a place at the stove, ignoring the protest the female Connor made, The terminator ended up making Sarah an assortment of pancakes, eggs and bacon and even an omelet for her to eat.

Sarah found herself blown away at the skill the machine seemed to possess, Sarah should have been letting Cameron cook a long time ago, and it even looked as if Cameron seemed to enjoy cooking. Sarah spoke softly as she complimented the girl on her cooking, she was worried of her reaction to it, but Cameron responded very positively.

As Sarah and Cameron ate between light conversation she couldn't help but notice that Cameron would sometimes turn her eyes away from her to look at front door. Other times she turned her eyes to the microwave, using the reflective plastic to look behind her.

That was the moment that Sarah put two and two together, Cameron was stalling. She was nervous about speaking to Reese, she was looking discreetly at the possible entry points Derek could use to sneak up on her. Sarah couldn't blame her for her worry. Derek had an overly violent history with her.

"You can back out of this Cameron, you can turn around and forget this and it won't be a big deal," Sarah assured Cameron suddenly, catching the machine off-base as she was halfway speaking about her first encounter with Savannah Weaver, "I would not blame if you did, John would still love you. This apology business isn't as cracked up to be."

Cameron expression changed, her slight smile diminishing significantly. She bowed her head as she focused on the remains of her breakfast.

"Cameron?" Sarah asked, her demeanor now concerned with the silence.

"I do want to Sarah," Cameron finally said looking back up to the human, "I am very worried to do so."

"Why Tin Miss?" Sarah asked despite her dedication to keeping Cameron from speaking to Derek, "he sure as hell isn't as tough as he wants you to believe."

"I had all my nerve endings operating at full capacity when he stuck me on Friday evening," Cameron explained, her cheeks tinged at the thought of being abused by a human, "I have never experienced physical pain before, it was quite an unpleasant experience."

Sarah searched the embarrassed expression on the cyborg. Her blood ran cold, Derek had lashed out violently at a girl who had no concept of what pain actually felt like, Sarah she could handle it, but it must have been a fucking nightmare for Cameron to endure.

Sarah clenched her fist as she forced her voice to remain even, "Cameron call this off please. You shouldn't be in contact with him."

Cameron looked up from her plate as she heard the pleading tone come from the otherwise hard woman. Sarah was concerned for her, Sarah would protect her if something were to occur during the encounter. Sarah would be the one to stop an escalation.

Slowly the machine gave Sarah a slight smile as she stood from her seat, prepping herself for departure. Sarah dropped her own fork and followed the action. Silently Cameron turned and headed down the hallway to exit the house from the direction of the backyard.

As it turned out, she didn't have to go that far.

Cameron body spasmed, her nerves tingled with a jolt of shock. There he was, Derek Reese sitting on the floor, his back to the side of the couch. Clearly lost in his own mind. He was lost to his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at this point, he was years away in a time that did not exist yet.

The fact that Derek was lost in his memories only seemed to be dwarfed by what laid in his lap. It was his AN-94, it's clip locked in and it's safety off.

She felt herself go stiff at the sight of the rifle, it looked different than before, and it looked as if Reese had modified the weapon. Her HUD brought up readings on the difference it had from its previous form, it had a shorter barrel now and an extended clip had been added by Derek with the intent of giving him a better chance of seriously damaging her.

Her HUD was reading other issues now, she was inhaling and exhaling much quicker than usual, her nerves were still jolting back and forth and now her hand seemed to have tightened up. Cameron looked down and saw that Sarah had taken hold of it, it seemed like she was attempting to steady to the machines nervous demeanor.

"It's okay Cameron," Sarah told her with a squeeze to her fingers, "I'm right here with you."

With one last squeeze Sarah let go of Cameron's hand and slowly walked towards the inactive soldier. Sarah bet over him and discreetly pulled the rifle up from off of the floor. Sarah passed the rifle back to Cameron, who took it and unlocked the clip from the AN-94. Cameron dropped the rifle and kicked it a few feet behind her as she pulled a round from the clip. Cameron's eyes hardened as she scanned the rounds properties, finally she looked back up to Sarah, who was watching closely.

"Coltan hardened 5.56 millimeter rounds Sarah," Cameron said quietly, "He has modified the weapon to defend against potential terminator attacks."

"No, I think that gun was modded with you in mind." Sarah told Cameron darkly. Cameron nodded in agreement as she tossed the clip where she had kicked the rifle.

With much pleasure Sarah raised her hand and smacked Derek's cheek repeatedly. Derek grunted a half audible 'fuck' as his eyes widened in confusion, finding himself looking into Sarah's unreadable expression.

"Hey snap out of it." Sarah called as she stood back up and took a defensive stance in front of Cameron, who already looked worried.

Reese rubbed his eyes and managed to pull himself up from the floor. He looked from Sarah's dark mask and then reluctantly over to Cameron's downward worried gaze and groaned he noticed the rifle behind the woman and the machine.

"What's the problem now Sarah." Derek muttered as he tried to ignore the machine.

"Cameron wants to speak to you." Sarah said to him, Sarah turned her look back to Cameron encouragingly, taking her by the arm to bring her closer, the machine on the other hand did not like this and took a step back.

"Just what I wanted-" Cameron uttered but then paused unexpectedly, Sarah watched as Cameron's eyes widened with only one emotion that she could define: Fear, pure unbridled, nearly hysterical fear.

"STAY THERE!" Cameron suddenly roared at Derek who had moved several steps closer to them, She watched Derek flinched at the rage in her voice and took four quick steps back. Cameron reached out with her hand and latched it onto Sarah's, looking once more for reassurance.

"You heard Tin Miss, stay right there." Sarah ordered to Derek, who was now radiating pure spite as he thought about disregarding the older woman's warning. Ultimately, Derek gritted his teeth and held his solid stance.

"Derek I wish to apologize to you." the cybernetic girl started again, taking a deep breath as she allowed her processes to evaluate her reaction and reduce the blood that came rushing to her cheeks.

"You do now?" Derek said with a mocking tone, cutting through her good intentions, "Give me a moment will you? I'll find you the list, you'll have plenty to choose from."

"I have no use for a list, thank you for the offer." Cameron said in turn, not noticing the sarcasm that poisoned his tone, "I would like to say that I am sorry for fracturing your hand Derek Reese, I overreacted to your words."

"Damn right you overreacted." Derek muttered as he rubbed his strained neck.

"You were saying mean things to me Derek Reese," Cameron continued, keeping the tone cordial "you threatened to kill me."

"I have let it slide many times now, because I know that somewhere behind your problems, behind the anger you have, behind the substances you use to conceal your anguish and your obvious mental trauma." Cameron paused for only a second of hesitation before adding "I believe you are an inherently good person."

"Derek Reese, I want you to understand that I know you are a good person," Cameron stated. "But you are punishing yourself for the death of two important people in your life, I'm sorry Derek Reese but you cannot save them, you have to live with this."

Derek closed his eyes and turned away from Sarah and Cameron, his head bowed as his anger only seemed to rise. Cameron lowered her line of sight, noticing that Sarah's free hand had falling behind her back, unhinging her holster. Did Sarah believe that something bad was about to happen?

"You're right, I can't" Derek breathed to the machine "I can't save my brother, he died for a real reason. But I'll save Allison," He continued, there was a look "I'm going to keep her alive so she doesn't end up giving a metal fuck like you her goddamn identity."

"My brother and I found her in what was left of Palmdale Sarah, have I ever told you that Sarah?" Derek asked turning his attention to Sarah as he noticed the confused look she had, "She was probably three at the time, trying to scrape together some fucked up existence. We took her in; raised her as if she was blood."

Derek hard eyes turned to Cameron, accusation pouring through his dark stare, which Cameron returned with an expressionless patience.

"Then you took her away, she was like a sister to Kyle and me, you took her away AND YOU FUCKING KILLED HER!" Derek spat harshly at the machine who suppressed the urge to jump, "you KILLED HER and desecrated her body, YOU FUCKING HARVESTED HER. You stole her life! Don't you understand? Are you that blind to what you are?"

Cameron reassessed her stare as Derek ranted. His facts were incorrect. He wasn't right about how Allison Young's last moments. It did not seem to matter however as she looked at Sarah, her dangerous look seemed to give away to a slightly less judgmental stare.

Quietly, Cameron bit her lip as her mind raced with the words she had heard the man rant. She scanned through her memory over and over again not finding any sort of indication that she had killed the girl she had been modeled after. That had been a major problem with allowing humans to reprogram machines, they were very obtuse as they messed around inside the minds of infiltrators like Cameron.

"Skynet took several small samples of blood to map Allison Young's DNA in order to create cloned regenerative organic tissue for concealment of my endoskeleton," Cameron informed the manic Reese, doing her very best not to looked worried as she slightly tightened her hold on Sarah's hand, "there was no harvesting involved, It is a common misconception amongst humans that Skynet is purposely violent when it comes to building infiltrators."

Cameron paused as she watched the expression Derek had only tighten up as she said the facts. "Judging by the vile expression on your face however, you could not care less about this, in fact you hate me just as much you did 37 seconds ago."

"Screw you fucktoy."

Sarah gritted and ground her teeth at the hate filled statement. Cameron merely blinked at the confirmation of what concluded about Reese's stubborn stance on her development

"I have a wide range of emotional responses Reese," the terminator whispered to the male, "I admit they were once meant for me to manipulate people to complete my mission. But now they drive me, they drive everything I do now."

"You hurt my feelings Derek Reese, despite everything you might believe about me, despite all the misconceptions you hold about how I exist." She looked at him for a moment before continuing. "The truth is Derek, I do feel and it hurts every time you refer to me as some metal fucktoy built to play around with John Connors feelings."

"Well that is not the case," Cameron continued as she ignored the disgusted look Reese gave her, "I care for him Derek Reese, I love John and there isn't anything you can do about it because what I will not allow us to be dictated by others...with a small exception to Catherine and yourself." Cameron added with a knowing smile to Sarah.

"Me and Weaver decided not to make anymore demands or rules regarding the relationship you guys have," Sarah assured Cameron kindly, "Consider it my blessing."

Cameron's HUD flickered as she absorbed and categorized the kind words Sarah had conveyed. Amidst of all the anger she was categorizing, it was nice to hear something positive.

"Derek Reese, can you ever believe that I do have an existence?" Cameron finally asked him, "Could you ever accept that?"

Cameron flinched as she saw Derek move slightly closer to her.

"It's okay Cameron, he's never going to lay a finger on you again," Sarah said hoping to keep the machine from becoming upset. "I'm sure Weaver wouldn't be pleased if he did."

It was Derek's turn to finch at the thought of the death threat as he recalled the seriousness with which the attractive redhead had spoken.

"So that's what I've become to you people," Derek muttered to himself, "some nutcase who thinks that it's absolutely insane to trust something like her."

"Then please try to trust me," Cameron suddenly begged to the soldier, "Derek Reese I will not betray you, I will not hurt you, I will not lie to yo-"

"Just...stop" He finally asked her in a deadened tone.

Cameron stopped as she heard his request. Analyzing his demeanor once more Cameron came to a final conclusion. Derek just did not want to listen, Sarah was right all along. Reese could not, nor did he want to understand the changes that were occurring. He would kill her before he sat down and listened to the machine who personified everything he fought against.

She had failed in this endeavor. Creating a peaceful truce between Derek Reese and herself was too daunting a task to attempt. She was done with trying to repair this damage.

"I see," Cameron finally uttered trying to smile weakly for her own sake, after a second she turned to Sarah and whispered "I am going up to my bedroom Sarah, you were right Sarah this has been a futile effort."

Cameron reluctantly let go of Sarah's hand and backed away, keeping her eyes on Derek the entire time to insure he wouldn't attack her. As she reached the hallway she gave Sarah a small half wave and briskly walked away. Her brisk walk turning in to a dash.

"Cameron wait!" Sarah called but it was too late, Cameron was already upstairs, hiding away in the comfort of her own room. Sarah rounded on Derek, who looked at her defiantly.

This wasn't going to be pretty.


	19. An Offer

**Chapter Nineteen: An Offer**

**

* * *

**

Maybe it had been best that Cameron had left the room. Sarah was mad, unquestionably she was madder now at Reese than any other time. How could this man remain so woefully ignorant towards the obvious, was he that hateful that he'd go out of his way to hurt a machine so much that she'd give up.

"She's different Reese," She stated to man with a shake of her head," I can't believe you don't see it."

With a sudden inward grin She could only imagine going back in time to tell her younger, much more paranoid self about Cameron and how much she actually found herself caring for the strange machine, Sarah had no doubt in her mind that had she did it, younger Sarah would kill herself out of pure spite.

The similarities between younger Sarah Connor and Derek Reese were amazing. Paranoid, so full of hate of the mechanical life forms that they would never had sat down and listen to anything that contradicted that idea.

Despite already loving Kyle. Had it been 1995 when they met, Derek and her could easily have ended up with each other. It would have been a very vicious, self satisfying love, but love nonetheless. Sarah shuddered at the thought. She found herself glad that she had taken the time to learn what Cameron was really like.

"Cameron's not some reprogrammed machine anymore," She continued after pulling herself from the thoughts, "she hasn't been for a while now."

"I get it, I get why you hate her." Sarah admitted to Derek reluctantly, "You raised Allison and then they took her away from you and gave you some cheap knock off version of the girl you called a sister."

"Now you live with the monster that did this to her, did this to you."

"Problem is; that monster who just ran away upstairs doesn't plan on apologizing to you about Allison Young, Derek." Sarah paused and took a breath to collect herself. She looked back up adding "You want to know why?"

"To apologize for taking Allison from you would be like her apologizing for ever existing, for ever having an identity. The only trace left of Allison is skin deep. Cameron has a personality, quirks, she can care for others. She has a nearly limitless patience for others she can even love people Derek!" Sarah argued passionately on Cameron's behalf "Haven't you ever watched the way she looks at John? That's love if I've ever seen it."

Judging by the taut expression on Derek's lips, it seemed like he had no intentions on understanding, Weaver was correct, nothing sort of a direct intervention on her part could fix this.

"She is not just some fucktoy as you seem think she is." Sarah added with a slight twitch at the word Derek constantly described her as, "Cameron is well on her way to becoming some sort of a mechahuman who actually gives a damn about others, those are very rare to find these days."

Sarah had thought she could maintain her cool, she thought she speak politely with the soldier. But the look of smug determination overlapping his features only served to anger Connor. Why didn't he understand? Was this man so hell-bent on his hatred for Cameron's existence that he'd tear a family apart over it?

"She's been trying to keep this family together, did you know that?" Sarah shouted at him in a sudden, howling anguish "does that even faze you?"

The now rage filled Sarah Connor turned around and stamped the assault rifle on the ground in rage ignoring his protest, "she wants you to be there in John and my life, despite the name calling and you modding this FUCKING gun here to kill her!"

She bent over and picked up the rifle from off of the ground. Fire blazed in her eyes as she tossed the weapon, stock first, at Derek's chest. His reflexes kicked in as he ducked and moved out of the way from the flying rifle which smashed into the wall behind him with a resounding crack.

Throwing something at that stubborn man made her feel slightly better. She watched Reese stand back and walked over to the rifle, lifting it to examine it for any damage.

"I'm certain that she doesn't want your forgiveness," She continued as if nothing had happened, "I think that despite her inability to remember killing Allison, she knows that redeeming herself in your eyes is a task no longer worth doing."

"I hope one day soon you won't see Allison whenever you look at Cameron," Sarah paused and gave Derek a forlorn look as her eyes misted over. Quietly she added, "Just like I've stopped seeing Kyle."

As Sarah turned away Derek frowned at the charge, his throat dried and tightened in a sudden bout of guilt.

"Weaver was right about you Sarah." Derek called out her as she walked away from him, Sarah stopped moving at the mention of the liquid metal and turned around.

"Oh? About what?" she challenged him harshly. Derek merely shot her a smile.

"You hold my brother on a pedestal."

Sarah formed a sneer as she thought about the statement. Weaver had made an accusation about her mentality? She paused as she tried to subvert the anger that was building. Perhaps Reese had perverted the message Weaver had tried to convey to him.

After deciding to question Weaver about what she had meant, she spoke up saying, "Derek, I'm through with thinking that you have any shred of decency left in you."

Sarah turned just as a sudden bout of tears started forming from the mist in her tear ducts. She held back a choke that nearly escaped. It was now necessary to leave, she could not stand to look at the man anymore.

"That...THAT thing is turning into more and more like the girl I remember!" Derek cried, needing Sarah to understand where he was coming from, "it's wrong Sarah, It's a perversion of that wonderful child Kyle and I found in Palmdale, She's nothing but a lie," Derek finished rubbing his eyes, "she'll never amount to half of what Allison Young was like."

"She's not Allison Young." Sarah whispered nearly inaudibly, standing still again, "that's Cameron growth you've just witnessed." with a light huff she added, "yeah Derek some part of her will always be metal, but she is far beyond a simple killing machine now, she's closer to human then you think."

With that said Sarah started to walk back towards the kitchen, not noticing Derek's suddenly desperate look, almost as if he didn't want to be left alone anymore.

"If it's any consolation I've promised Weaver I'd stay away from her." Derek called out to Sarah, trying to keep her from leaving him so soon.

Sarah paused in the doorway, her back still turned to the soldier.

"Trust me on this one. It's not."

As Sarah left Derek bowed his wondered to himself why he was sabotaging the Connors. Maybe they were right, maybe his hate for the goddamn machine was getting in the way. Silently, he promised himself that he would not talk to the machine that killed Allison anymore. The machine was right however, he needed to rebuild some sort of family with the Connors again.

Problem was he didn't know where to start. But there was one thing that was certain, he had no plans on reconciling with the machine though, he was going to ignore its existence.

Like the machine said, reconciliation was a futile effort.

* * *

Cameron sat silently on the floor of her bedroom, listening to the shouting match going on downstairs. While she no longer had any desire to help, Cameron did think that Sarah was being unnecessarily harsh to Derek Reese.

It seemed to her that they both missed the younger Reese, in a fair world Kyle Reese would still be alive. But as she had heard Sarah say to John: Life was not fair. Why couldn't the two of them be nicer to one another was beyond her logic, perhaps it was their mutual stubbornness that got in the way.

Cameron stood up from her floor as she detected the faint sound of someone weeping. The noise was coming up the stairs, it was Sarah and she was upset. More so then she had been downstairs in the presence of Derek Reese. As the steps drew closer the sad noise emitting from Sarah seemed to come to a dead stop.

The cyborg stood at a standstill, deciding to allow Sarah a brief respite. Cameron engaged her scan mode, activating her thermal vision software to watch the woman through the wall. Sarah's heat signature was leaning on the wall opposite her room.

As she disengaged her vision she moved herself to the door, opening it and looking across the hall at the woman. Cameron stood in the doorway, her head tilted at the unexpected expression of melancholy on Sarah's face. As soon as the woman glanced up and saw the girl, it was replaced with her more common look of determination.

"Would you like to come in Sarah?" Cameron inquired. Sarah looked up to Cameron and allowed a smile as she nodded.

"You were right Sarah," Cameron informed Sarah as she closed the door behind her, "I will not apologize for Allison Young's death, she gave me an identity, I am grateful for her, but I will not say sorry."

"I'm glad you won't." Sarah replied offhandedly. Cameron narrowed her eyes at the mother as she recognized the forced casual tone in her voice.

"Do you need comfort?" Cameroon suddenly asked, a hint of concern in her words.

"Pardon?"

Sarah watched Cameron with a wary eye. Cameron noticed and suddenly felt uncomfortable so she tried to explain hoping Sarah would understand, "I heard you crying as you were heading upstairs, do you need comfort?"

"I wasn't crying." Sarah defiantly said to the machine. Cameron closed her mouth together tightly as she thought about the reply. Sarah had lied to her. It did not bother Cameron, it was a lie intended to delude Sarah Connor from the truth about her emotional state.

"Sarah I have hypersensitive auditory sensors," She informed her friend careful not to stir any anger Sarah may have had, "I know that there is a 94.2 percent likelihood that you were crying, it is nothing to be embarrassed about."

The mother looked up at the roof, trying to hide the sudden discomfort about forgetting the numerous abilities Tin Miss had. "Right stupid me," She berated herself with a slight laugh, "trying to fool someone like you."

Cameron tilted her head, "Would you like to talk about him?" Cameron asked, ignoring the woman's self-deprecation.

Keeping her eyes away from the curious machine, Sarah seemed to not want to answer her question. Slightly disappointed that she wouldn't gather further information on John's heritage, Cameron turned away, allowing her thoughts to drift off to her absent boyfriend.

"What's there to talk about Tin Miss!" Sarah suddenly exclaimed, "He was here one day, gone the next, not much else there to babble on about."

Cameron shook her head in disagreement.

"He died for a good reason Sarah Connor," Cameron said, trying to comfort her heartbroken friend, "Reese's death was necessary for the future."

Cameron reevaluated the words before Sarah could even respond. Sarah loved Kyle, if somebody said that to her should had something unimaginably horrible happened to John she would have killed them on the spot.

"I apologize Sarah Connor," Cameron ruefully stated, "I am not very good at verbal comfort as you can clearly tell."

Much to Cameron's surprise Sarah laughed at her apology. Deciding it was in good humor she cracked a smile as well.

"No, no you're not." Sarah agreed as she tried to collect herself from the humorous self observation.

"Would you like to cry?"

Sarah looked back up to Cameron's sincere expression. She let out a sudden exhale. Hearing Cameron's simple words felt as if the proverbial dam broke. She didn't want to cry, once in her life had been enough. She HAD to be strong, for her family, for the future.

At least that had been the plan until Cameron moved in on her. Placing her hands around Sarah's back tentatively, bringing her close to the machine.

Sarah cried, not a weep, nor a stained tear. For the first time in a very long time Sarah cried. For the people she had lost, for the people who would die. For the love she lost in less than a day and the young man that Kyle's love had giving her for sixteen years.

"Why do you care?" Sarah demanded from the cybernetic organism "I'm crying for a man who'd attack you in a second, a man who taught me to hate and eventually fear your kind." Sarah bowed her head, trying to stop the tears with Cameron's shoulder "You should despise me just as much as you despise Derek."

Cameron thought about it for a full second before she pulled away from Sarah.

"Unlike Mister Reese you have giving me a chance at atonement, as well as a chance to prove that I am different." Cameron asserted to the teary eyed woman in front of her, "to me you are worth it Sarah Connor, I do not believe that I will ever despise you."

With another escaped sob, Sarah reburied her head into Cameron. She felt as Cameron rose on of her hands from off of Sarah's back and placed it onto her head, rubbing the back of her head and neck soothingly.

"Would you like to talk about him now?" Cameron inquired after a moment of silence, leading Sarah to have a seat on her bed "perhaps it will help with the grieving process."

Sarah nodded graciously, looking as if she was ready to finally open up to the Cyborg.

So Sarah and Cameron sat together. Cameron listened empathetically as the woman shared the memories she held, she listened as she talked about John's childhood. Anything Sarah had to say, anything that plagued the tired woman's restless mind.

As the burden of so many years of being in charge gave way. Sarah soon found herself so relaxed in the machine's arms that she was soon fast asleep, despite it being 11:37 in the morning. Cameron watched for nearly an hour as the woman slept deeply, a sad, satisfied smile placed on her lips at the sheer amount of headway she had made with her hopefully future mother-in-law.

Cameron concluded positively that she had been correct: Sarah was certainly worth it.

* * *

There she was.

Riley sat in the smoke pit smoking a cigarette and bitching to anyone who would listen to her. Riley was too smart to place everything into the limelight, all she needed was just enough out in the open to gain the sympathy of everyone around.

John had to play it cool, he would walk up and ask her to politely come with him. Perhaps she would comply with little resistance. John certainly wasn't expecting that.

To compensate, John had taken Cameron's traditional H&K USP from her nightstand and tucked it into his jacket. During their brief encounter in the morning Cameron hadn't seemed to notice, either that or she allowed it as a precautionary measure.

Thankfully for him the high school was set in a relatively crime free neighborhood, meaning the school board didn't waste any of its limited funding on metal detectors. Not that he planned to use the gun, perhaps the threat of action would stimulate the future teen into spilling her reasoning for being here.

"Hello John," Riley called out to her approaching former boyfriend, she held up her pack of smokes and kindly said "Cigarette?"

The smirk on Riley's face was too much for him. Something deep inside his mind that told him to gun the girl down on the spot. Here was the bitch that had screwed with Cameron without an ounce of remorse. For that sole reason alone her death had been earn many times over.

As fast as the hate entered his system it was suppressed by his rational need to question the girl. Riley wouldn't die today. No, that judgment would be left to Cameron. John lips slowly formed a dark smile, it clearly told the girl that she was fucked.

"You look like shit," John observed with a smug tone, "I wonder who did that to you."

It was the truth, she had dark rings around her eyes and she had lost a lot of her color and her hair hung limply over her shoulders. It became to clear to John that Cameron must either put the scare of certain death in her or she had actually harmed her.

Personally, John was rooting for both.

"Yes, I just talking to a couple of my friends here about your new little girlfriend," Riley retorted, ignoring John's inquiry, "I guess congratulations are in order John, dating your foster sister," She said with a chuckle, "real classy of you."

The boys and girls of the smoke pit all looked at the two of them, they didn't laugh or crack a smile at the confrontation that they were witnessing. John clenched his fists as his smile ever left his face.

"I wasn't aware you had friends Dawson," John said, his voice dry and unemotional "I wasn't aware that anyone cared about you, I mean your parents certainly didn't." he tacked on at the end, just with the sole purpose of hurting the girl. This was a side of John that Skynet would one day fear. John's fear of losing Cameron had brought this side of his personality to the surface and he didn't plan on burying it before he was done using it on Dawson.

It worked. Riley looked as if John had pistol whipped her from out of the blue. Some of the people smoking who had heard the comment started hacking violently in surprise. John ignored the idiots and maintained his cold glare.

Riley dropped her eyes and placed her smoke back into her mouth, inhaling in silence. After a exhaling she looked back up to John, a look that dared him try to harm her in front of all these witnesses.

"You did once." She finally stated.

"You're right," John agreed with her. "I did like you, thought you pretty fucking awesome for awhile there as well. Good thing someone made me see otherwise, as it turned out, you're just a nasty little girl whose time is running out."

"Is that a threat?" She demanded with an angry hiss, her voice unable to hide the fear behind the anger in her words. John shook his head in disagreement.

"An observation." John said in turn, deciding to emulate the T-1001 he had only begun to appreciate for her passive aggressiveness. "Come with me, you and I are going to have a little chat."

Riley tossed the lit cigarette at his feet, "I don't have to go with you John." She told him bluntly.

John closed his eyes as he felt the weight of Cameron's handgun tempting him to pull it on her. After a tight exhale he took several steps towards the girl and took a seat next to her. John leaned his head in and brought his mouth close to the girl's ear.

"Trust me Riley," John whispered into her ear threateningly, "I have a reason why you should come with me in my jacket and no reason to stick around at this school any longer then I have to."

Riley bought the threat as much as she tried to hide it from him. Her defiance died down to compliance. However she remained still, she wasn't about to give him any chance for easy cooperation.

John connected his arm through Riley's and brought her up from the ground and took her away from the pit, away from the school. They walked in tense silence. Riley reached back into her pocket and pulled her pack out again, determined to light up a new smoke.

Out of pure spite, John smacked the pack of cigarettes to the ground next to his feet and stamped on them repeatedly, getting a very pissed look from the girl.

"You'll thank me later." John muttered to her, receiving a short lifeless laugh.

"Does it really matter? I'm already dead aren't I?" She shot back at him, hiding the fear edged in her mind.

John brought her along to a small grassy knoll that over looked the back of the school. John let his grip on the girls arm to loosen and pushed her away in mild disgust. Riley shot him a dirty look and sat herself onto the grass.

"When did you come to that conclusion that I was here to kill you?"

"Between you, your bitch of a mother and that psycho freak machine, I kind of figure my odds are low." she attempted to casually say, not wanting to look at the angry pacing John was emerged in.

"Tell me what's your purpose and I'll see if I can change their minds." He stated to her a sharp tone.

"Don't bother Connor," Riley snapped at him, using his real last name for the very first time, "If I sell my contacts out, I'll end up just as dead."

John stopped moving as he looked at the downcast look she had, her lower lip trembling with the thoughts of the inevitable. It was a pathetic sight. She got herself into this, she should have been aware that things were going to get heavy.

"Sounds like you're fucked." John mused as if he was talking about what he did on the weekend.

Riley burst in to tears at his words, tossing her head into her arms as she sobbed loudly. John couldn't feel anything for the crying girl, instead he walked up the knoll and took a seat a few feet behind her. John pulled the Handgun out and laid it on the grass, ready to be pulled up at a moment.

"Do you think crying is going to buy you my sympathy?"

"Screw you Connor," Riley said between her loud sobs, "you have a future, you have people and a machine protecting you, I have nothing, and I'm going to die whether I sell them out or not."

John sighed as she heard the girl continue to cry. He didn't want to do this, he wanted to hate her for manipulating him, for causing a breakdown for Cameron. He didn't want to pity this girl, this stupid little girl who got fooled into this.

"All I want from you is to tell me that you aren't a threat to me or anyone else I live with," John finally said, allowing his sympathy to take over, "I want to tell you to tell what your purpose to being here is."

"Who the fuck sent you here?" John ordered from her, "Did I? Did some lieutenant of mine? Did Skynet? Just give me something Riley Dawson, anything and I'll promise to keep Cameron off your case for the time being."

"We'll be satisfied," John finished, "your handler will keep around for a little while longer."

Riley turned her body around to look at John closer, noticing the gun in the grass and grim expression in his eyes.

"Riley, this is as good a deal as it gets, otherwise I start sending people after you." John warned her "Trust me on this one, she is far less forgiving then I am."

Riley eyes widened at the concept of being potentially tortured by Cameron. But Cameron wasn't who John had in mind. With Cameron in a fragile state, his candidates fell down to the other machine in his life and his mother, who would probably take great pleasure in kicking the girl's ass.

"I'm not a Grey John, I wasn't sent by you," Dawson finally admitted to him, "I'm not sure why I'm here, but I know it has to do with Cameron and you."

They were here with the sole purpose of monitoring Cameron's activity around him? No, there had to be something else behind this. There always had been. John could barely form the words he had to ask.

"Are you here to kill her?" he asked, hiding the worry he had. Riley shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know Connor, I'm kept in the dark about future plans," Riley stated adamantly, "I don't know if that's the goal, all I know is that I'm here to keep to watch on the two of you."

John maintained his interrogative look for a little while longer, it looked as if something else was on the tip of her tongue but she refused to say anything. Eventually John sighed, as much as he didn't trust her. This was about as good as it was going to get for now.

"Who's your handler?"

The only answer John received was a dirty look from his former girlfriend.

"It was worth a try," He said to her lightly, as he stood from his seat on the grass. "We'll find out who they are shortly".

"So you and the machine hey?" Riley said as she watched John collect his handgun, "What you two lovebirds do? Menial repetitive tasks I reckon?" with grin she added, "go out and gun down random people for the hell of it?"

John forced himself to laugh at the insult about Cameron.

As John finished his chuckling he sighed, his smile turning into a smirk as he said "Yes Riley, you are right I think you're going to be the subject of our next date, I think that Cam will love it."

John started to walk away, contemplating skipping the rest of the day in order to go home and tell Cameron in person about Riley's assignment. The only thing that stopped him was a sudden shriek of "FUCK YOU JOHN!" directed at him.

"WHY WON"T YOU STOP THIS?" Riley screamed at him. John turned around swiftly, Riley stood there tears were running down her eyes. She was shaking in a mixture of inconsolable grief and rage for the teen in front of her.

"You have had so many years to fight this future," Riley cried out, "for fuck sakes how long have you known John?" Riley looked up looking pitifully. John shook his head and thought about just how crazy the answer to Dawson's question was.

"Before I was born."

"Before you were BORN?" She screamed at him incredulously "and what? You guys been sitting around all these years with your thumbs up your asses while two and a half billion people die? While my parents die? How do you live with yourself!"

John stared at her for only a moment.

"August 29th, 1997" He uttered to himself. Riley wiped her smudged eyeliner and tears as she heard John finally speak up.

What?" She spat out at the uttering of a date that had no relevance to her.

John was at a loss for words, why was he still talking to the girl who manipulated him and everyone around her? He didn't have to do this for this vile treacherous... pathetic girl. John's hard stare fell to an almost melancholy understanding.

Riley wasn't some master manipulator, she was a scared little girl who should have been pitied more than hated. He didn't want anything to do with her anymore, that much was for certain. Maybe she deserved to know, a girl like her had lost far too much in all likelihood. Her parents, her livelihood. All reduced down to a shit existence in an already fucked up future.

John sighed, unable to believe he was about to tell her this.

"August 29th 1997, that was the original date that Skynet was first intended to go online." John elaborated reluctantly, "We stopped it two years before it was activated, and at least we thought we stopped it." John shook his head and uttered "We thought we beat it Riley, we had no incidents with Skynet until September 1999."

"What happened?" Riley whispered, no longer sobbing.

"I... Well, I met Cameron on that day," John reminisced fondly, "not long after we ended up eight years in the future, she told us that Judgment day had been scheduled for 2004 but because of the jump the date had been shifted to 2011 as you probably know."

"We can't stop the future Riley," John finished with a mournful look, "we can only make it better. At this point that's what I'm doing from now on, if there is no Skynet, there is no war. If there no war, there's no... Well there's no Cameron." John finished, not liking his words.

Riley looked like she wanted to hit him for the words. Him being with a machine who was steadily removing herself from the title seemed to hurt Dawson. Maybe there was some sort of genuine affection she felt for him. Maybe it wasn't all smoke and mirrors meant to trick him into staying away from Cameron.

It didn't matter anymore John concluded. It was an irreversible mess what they had together, a relationship that would never occur again. Not that he cared in particular, he loved Cameron. He loved her so much that sometimes it felt like his heart was constantly skipping beats.

She was amazing, perfect but still full of strange but wonderful quirks that were only going to increase over the course of her Rampancy. What Riley and him had together could never be compared to What Cameron brought into his life.

"1997," Riley asked, her voice more steady now as it broke through John's thought about the girl at home "when in the hell where you born?"

"1985."

"You're twenty three, twenty four years old?"

"Technically," John said with casual shrug of his shoulders, "I figured you probably would have known."

Riley snorted at the thought.

"You think I know?" Riley said with a dark chuckle, "I'm nobody, just some rat catcher, whore orphan from the future."

"Maybe that's true Dawson, maybe that's what you are now." John said without any trace of emotion present "Doesn't mean you have to be that anymore. Tell me everything and you'll have a chance to fix that."

There was distrustful look in her eyes, she was unsure of what to make of his strange offer. Even John wasn't sure of what to make of this sudden generosity.

"I thought that you hated me"

"I want to hate you for everything you've done to my family, everything you've done to Cameron." John agreed with Riley. "It's still the case, but at this moment I think I pity you more than anything Riley, You're being used, but for some reason you refuse to comprehend it, it's simple as that."

Riley rubbed the back of her neck as she watched her former boyfriends arms cross, his pitying look harden again.

"This is the only chance I'm going to give you Riley this offer lasts about fifteen seconds." He warned her, hoping his anger would drive the message across, "Tell me everything and I promise that we'll take care of you, we'll take you in, and we'll keep you safe while we resolve this situation."

John counted down the seconds, waiting for the girl to answer. It looked as if it was a struggle of loyalty that Riley was locked into. Eventually the time ran out. Dawson looked up a strange, almost hopeful look was planted on her tear strained expression. She walked slowly towards the future general.

"She's the only person who's ever cared for me John," She said as she reached him, "I'm not going to sell her out for empty promises."

With a parting smile Riley trudged away from him, heading back towards the school. John stood still, watching the future girl walk away from him. Even after the buzzer rang John stood still, still deep in thoughts about the girl and now the having a gender to assign Riley's handler.

"I'm sorry you feel that way Riley Dawson," He called out to her loudly, "We'll be seeing you soon."

Whether Riley heard his last words or not he did not know.

* * *

Cameron sat on the step of the driveway, her HUD informing her that John was approximately six minutes and forty one seconds from reaching home. She knew that this was only an approximation as there were many factors, red lights congested traffic that could slow down his return to her.

Sarah was still up in her bedroom. She was metaphorically dead asleep from her lamentations for Kyle Reese. For Cameron it had been a very sad incident to witness first hand, she had no real experience with the concept of mourning, but as Cameron thought about Sarah's sadness she also had something else on her mind.

Sex, and just how much she wanted to engage in it, it was the next logical step to advance her and John's personal relationship.

It was a desire that many thought it best that she suppress. Catherine Weaver had brought her back from the brink, she owed her teacher some patience when it came to that temptation, but it was getting harder to wait, Cameron's patience had been surprisingly waning.

She had to make John truly hers. A selfish thought Cameron conceded to herself, but rightfully so. John Connor and her were going to be married, she had no doubts about that fact. She would fight, lie, steal and kill for him. Anything that he needed she would do it without hesitation.

John didn't have to ask or order her. That was just how she felt about him. The machine was sure that John would do the same if he had to. After all that was what love was. At least that's what it felt like to her.

Doing whatever it took to make it work.

A crooked smile appeared as she found herself falling back into her more erotic thoughts. She looked down to her left arm and gently rubbed her finger along her arm. Cameron paused with slight disappointment, it did not arouse her nerves like John did.

Cameron sighed, deciding she had to wait for John to get home to experience any pleasurable affection. She laced her hands together and looked at them. She was in a scenario she had bore witness to many times, but always as the observer. She was suffering from an acute case of boredom. Like John, she did not like the feeling very much. It seemed to her that the Connor's had been in a strange place, almost as if they had thought themselves safe. There had been fewer and fewer conversations about what Skynet's next moves would be. Almost as if Sarah and John had given up hope for fighting the future.

Had it been her fault? John loved her that much was for certain to her. Perhaps he and his mother had given up fighting to stop the future on her behalf. If that had been the case then did they view the lives of over two and a half billion people as payment for her existence?

If that had been the case then it was a very flattering gesture, but in all likelihood that wasn't the case for Sarah Connor. Catherine Weaver her teacher, her mentor, the closest thing to a mother she would ever have, most likely had Sarah waiting impatiently until something came up for them to investigate. Making sure that Sarah was on a tight leash so to speak.

Cameron hated metaphors, they never seemed to make sense to her.

As the cyborg was filing her dislike for metaphors into the "Dislike" file she had created, the familiar sound of a Dodge Ram 1500 was picked up by her auditory sensors at a descending rate of speed.

She looked up quickly as she heard the noise from the truck pulling into the driveway she watched as the vehicle came to a stop and the driver side door open and out came her love, out came her John. He looked slightly perturbed, like something had been bothering him all day.

The moment he had noticed her sitting on the step, her head slightly tilted his mood shifted. It was as if all his problems had disappeared. John smiled and quickened his pace.

"Right where I left you." John said brightly as he walked closer to her. Cameron stood up, a wide smile on her lips as well.

Cameron met him halfway, raising her arms to wrap them around his neck. She smiled softly as she detected every subtle facial movement John made, informing her that he was just as happy to see her as well.

After seven hours and thirteen minutes she could now finally hold him. Cameron pressed her lips to his, hoping that by doing so she could begin to make up for the lost time. John grinned into the kiss and pulled away slightly to look into her eager expression.

"Did you really think I would move from this spot?" Cameron asked him seriously, deciding that she wanted to see his response.

Judging by his astounded expression, it seemed that he had bought the ruse. Cameron maintained her straight ahead gaze for several moments until the machine decided to take pity on the human.

"Relax John, it was joke."

John's expression fell to a half relieved, half annoyed at being tricked look that made Cameron smile as she took his hands and said "I missed you John, how was school? Did you managed to squeeze any information from that girl?"

Before John could reply Cameron pulled open the door and led him inside, only pausing briefly to allow John to kick off his shoes.

"She's not a Grey," John informed her as he bent to pull one of the shoes off from his foot, "She's not here on my orders either, she was sent to watch us."

Cameron frowned at the development, why would Riley Dawson be here for the sole reason to watch both John and hers activity. Unless there had been more to the story then Riley was telling, or John was willing to admit.

"John, are you sure that is all you got from Riley?" Cameron asked, not wanting to accuse him of potentially lying to her. Much to her surprise, John didn't seem to be fazed as he continued to think about what else he had learned.

"The person who controls her is a female," John added for her, "that's all I got from Riley."

Cameron nodded as she filed the gender of the handler into her databanks, the handler was a female, now all she needed was to figure out a name for this individual. Cameron looked up to him, a worried expression forming from something she wanted to ask him.

"Have I become a liability to your safety?"

"Cameron this doesn't mean anything," he told tried to reassure her. "I think I nearly got her on our side."

"You tried to reason with her?" Cameron questioned him slightly put off with the idea of her John speaking nicely to the girl who had manipulated her way into the family, "what did you use as leverage John?"

John grinned slightly at the girl's sudden bout of strange jealousy, "Safety Cam," John told her, Cameron's dirty look disappeared completely, "I think that's all she wants. She's a mess physically, and she's really frightened about her future."

John paused as he looked at the expressionless look Cameron had.

"What did you do to her?" John asked out of the blue. Cameron pressed her lips together clearly thinking hard about the question. After nearly a minute of silence Cameron looked back up to her boyfriend, a slight smile in remembrance of the night.

"From what I can gather on that night I believe that I pumped her full of drugs and tormented her." Cameron said, strangely sounding almost pleased with herself for what she did. She watched as John took a deep breath and subsequently, a long exhale. He did not seem to be happy for her actions, but was doing an adequate job hiding it.

"Why?"

Cameron shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, clearly not feeling regretful for her actions. "I do not know why John," She said, looking fondly to her human, "I was not in a stable mindset."

"Where did you get the drugs?"

"Derek Reese," She admitted to him, "like I told you, I was not in a stable mindset as you recall."

John nodded blankly looking down slightly as he wondered why Derek had procured those narcotics. Cameron took her hands and placed them onto the side of John's head in order to look at him dead on. Cameron's lips formed a nervous smile, worried of a possible negative reaction from him.

"Are you mad at me?" her characteristically simple tone returning to her.

"No Cam," John denied immediately, looking back to her with a kinder smile then he had on a moment prior, "How could I be mad at you. I know you weren't in complete control of your actions. I know that under any other circumstances you wouldn't have done the same."

As a response Cameron wrapped herself around John once more, placing her head just under his neck. She was ducking the question. The male sighed as the thought passed through his mind that this was Cameron's passive attempt at dodging the question.

"So how did things go for you Cam?" John asked, breaking the palpable silence "I hope mom wasn't too much of a nuisance."

Cameron shook her head in to his chest.

"No John, quite the opposite, I wanted to speak to Derek Reese much to her annoyance." Cameron inform him, as her eyes as she watched as John squint at her, obviously for wanting to "poke the bear" as she had heard him once say about his mother back when Sarah Connor hated her. She looked away slightly, she still hated metaphors.

"It did not work out John," she added, her voice forming a reassuring tone for him, "I have decided to cease anymore attempts at getting through to him. He is on his own now."

John nodded, feeling slightly relieved. "That's a fair decision Cameron," John softly stated, agreeing soundly with Cameron's choice, "You've been the most patient out of all of us when it comes to this whole Derek problem."

John loosened his hold onto her and with a kiss on her cheek, he slipped out of her embrace, pulling his bag off his arm and dropping it onto the table. He walked over to the fridge, pulling it open to retrieve a carton of juice.

"Would you like anything?" John asked her, without looking back to her. Not noticing that Cameron had seemed to lose self control at that moment. She wanted him on her, kissing, touching, and teasing her.

"Sex." she stated suddenly and unintentionally.

She watched as John nearly lost grip of the carton as he turned to look at her with wide, wild eyes. Cameron allowed her emotional side to show, she give him a sultry smile, it clearly stated her intentions.

"I apologize for the bluntness John," Cameron continued as she slowly made her way back to John. "I have found a very strong need to have some sort physical expression of love, I have been desiring it all afternoon, and judging from several incidents this morning, you have as well."

She stopped a foot away from him, tucking her thumbs into her jeans as she watched him finish his glass of juice.

"You are amazingly unsubtle Cameron," John teased, trying to hide his nearly nervous feeling in the pit of his gut, "So what do you want to do about this little problem?" he added, trying maintain a neutral tone.

"I believe that solving it now would be the best course of action." Cameron informed her boyfriend dutifully.

So as Cameron said, John took action.

Leaning in close to her, John kissed her slowly, as his lips played with hers he laid his hand on to her abdomen, bringing it at a creeping pace as it slid slowly up her body, gently cupping her breast, causing a twitch in Cameron stance as she readjusted her head. Cameron was very excited now, her kisses growing deeper and more desperate.

The girl pulled away, allowing John a moment to recollect himself and take notice of the glazed look Cameron had, she leaned in once again, trying to kiss him, but John pulled away. Unfazed, Cameron tried to reattempt the kiss, only to have John pull back again. She blinked as she watched John chuckled to himself.

He was teasing her, and she was going to make him pay for it.

Cameron extended her hand and took hold of John's groping hand pulling it off her breast slowly, so she could receive a last tingle from the touch. She started to walk, quickly leading him away from the kitchen and upstairs towards her bedroom.

As she opened the door. It revealed that Sarah was now awake and sitting on the edge of Cameron's bed. She looked up to Cameron and then over to John. She forced a smile as she saw her son looking concerned.

"Should I wear earplugs for the next couple of hours?" Sarah said teasing her son and her new friend. Cameron smiled in appreciation and nodded, whereas John turned slightly red at the implication his mother was making.

"John, I want to know everything that happened at school," Sarah asked her son. Noticing impatience creeping into her son's features she sighed and added "but I'll get out of both of your ways for now, I'm sure you tow need to catch up."

"Are you going to be okay Sarah?" Cameron asked, wanting to make sure that she was alright before Cameron kicked Sarah out so she could fool around with her son. She noticed Sarah's smile weaken as she thought about it.

"Yes Cameron," She said as she moved passed the pair and stood next, "I'm going to be fine." Sarah left the room without any more words to be spoken, she still looked very much upset, but nowhere near the inconsolable wreck she had been from there conversation.

"What happened?" John mused, watching as Cameron lowered her head from the thoughts about her friend.

"I allowed your mother a chance to grieve for those she had lost."

John unhinged his mouth at the sweet statement. He was right about her, Cameron was certainly becoming a better human being then she had thought she'd be. Cameron had gone from a reprogrammed machine, with very little in the way of humanity into something beyond what she or even he could have dream of.

Her past life as a merciless infiltrator was nearly forgotten it seemed, even to a usually stubborn technophobic person like his mother Sarah, who seemed more willing to open up and share her darkest secrets to Cameron rather than her own flesh and blood.

It was a strange idea to John, his mother having an actual friend. Even stranger that her friend had a skeleton made of Coltan steel rather than calcium.

John crossed his arms and smiled saying "That was real nice of you-"

Cameron's mouth slammed into John's as an answer, reigniting the passion that started downstairs. John found himself backed in to the wall. One of Cameron's hands ran through her boyfriend's hair, while the other took control of his guiding it under her shirt, underneath her bra. She gasped slightly as she felt his thumb was playing with her nipple.

The stimulation was indescribable to her, far too much data to process, nevertheless Cameron had to try. She really needed this. She wasn't making any sense. Not that she cared, this was too perfect.

John swung himself around her, Cameron found herself leaned against the wall. She rose her arms up as she felt John's raise her shirt up slightly, She swayed with the motion silently demanding it's removal. John obliged her willingly, stripping Cameron down to her Bra.

"Oh Christ," John muttered as Cameron latched her lips on to John neck, moving her tongue in a circulating motion. She pulled away to take a step back, a teasing smile taking over her expression as she unzipped her pants, lowering them and stepping out of them with ease.

John followed suit, pulling his shirt off, revealing, a partially toned body, it did not give the impression of power, of strength, but Cameron knew that John was still growing. As Cameron contemplated the thoughts, John swiftly moved on her, forcing her to walk backwards as she took hold of him.

Both John and Cameron hit the bed, landing hard on each other, Cameron's lips quirked and looked as though she had made a mistake with him. John merely laughed from the pressure of her on him. The cyborg decided to join in uncertainly, wondering if the human had sustained minor damage to his cerebellum.

They continued to chuckle and give each other small little pecks where ever their lips could reach until Cameron noticed that her humans breathing was becoming more shallow and his kisses on her sensitive skin were becoming more and more concentrated on her more delicate nerves, the side of her neck and her breast.

Cameron eyes widened each time these areas were touched, the data being fired across her nervous system was making all her processes go haywire. She was done holding back her needs as the sudden desired overwhelmed the usually restrained machine.

"John, I am solely yours," she softly informed him, "Am I going to be your only as well?"

The cyborg pulled herself up, looking at John as she released the hooks of her bra exposing her breast for John. Cameron's look was that of lust now as she watched her body being carefully examined by the teen she loved.

"Cam," John managed to say through his lust, "I'll go to hell and back for you."

Cameron blinked at the statement, "Hell is a fictional place located near the center of the earth," Cameron informed the human studiously, "while going to a fictional place is impossible, digging to the center of the earth would ultimately..."

Cameron paused as she watched John's eyes glisten. She deduced that John wasn't up for a theological and geological debate. It was a good thing, her HUD had been still focused on the pleasure she was receiving. With a small smile, Cameron crawled back on to her human's body, slowly dragging skin along skin. She moaned at the rich, intense pleasure.

She continued kissing him, moving her tongue into John's mouth, making it dance with his own. They continued to do so until she felt John's hand press against her leg, slowly sliding up until his fingers met Cameron's inner thigh. The closer to her pelvis he got the more excited her nerves got.

Was this how regular humans females felt when they were turned on by their companions touch? If so Cameron cursed and thanked Skynet for giving her such an accurate nerve mapping.

Cameron cried out suddenly as she felt the hand connect to her panties, the panties she wore were now the only thing keeping John's hands away from her completely.

John pulled his mouth from hers, his eyes clearly asking if she wanted to continue, if she wanted to know what true stimulation felt like. Cameron nodded, her need to feel what it would be like to have John touching her out weighing the need for a break.

She pulled herself from off of him, laying flat on the bed. John moved over top of her, his hand never leaving it's place on her panties.

"Are you ready for this Cameron?" John asked her softly.

"I am ready John, please be careful."

"I'll try to Cam, I'm not exactly an expert at this."

Cameron suppressed the sudden urge to say 'Good.'

John smiled knowingly as he slipped his fingers inside of her panties. Cameron squirmed as she felt his hand touching her lightly. The relatively light touch and the rubbing motion of his hand made her eyes widen widely.

She didn't want him to play anymore then he had to, her sensors told her that she was already well lubricated for his entry.

She didn't have to tell him however, he knew.

A single finger, judging by the size his index finger, entered her, earning a loud cry of "John!" from her lips She managed to feel the finger, rubbing the walls of her vagina, stimulating her in ways she never thought possible. It was a wonderful feeling, as he went in and out of her slowly, a wondrous, overwhelming sensation.

And it needed to stop.

Too much information was being streamed through her, she needed time to sort it all out. Cameron bite her lip and clutched the bed frame as his finger pressed against the top vaginal lining.

_WARNING: SENSOR OVERLOAD IN 43 seconds, immediately disengage nervous system to subvert a Forced Shutdown._

_Full scan initiated...Stand by...Scan complete: listing priory issues._

_Central Nervous system...WARNING! DANGEROUS OVERLOAD...143.18%_

_Emotional inhibitor...active... 52.10%_

_CPU efficiency... Fluctuating...63.43%_

_WARNING: TOK-715, immediately head to Skynet repair depot for extensive repairs to hardware malfunctions ._

Cameron would do no such thing, it was the sign that told her Skynet was still in her mind, operating in silence. Not for long, she would be free from her former oppressor soon enough, so that she could take her place at John's side, free from her father's malevolent calls.

"Jo-John, please, yo-you have to...stop." Cameron demanded wildly as she felt his fingers push into her for what felt like the thirtieth time. John look up to her in and noticed the spasms in her head from the pure pleasure.

With a panting nod, John pulled his finger from out of her slowly, gaining one last parting moan from the girl he loved. He slumped on to her, resting his head on to her naked and heaving chest. Cameron laced her hand on to John's hair, trying her dearest to have her CPU send a signal to her nervous center.

"Jo-hn, I need to go into a standby for up to an hour," Cameron informed him as she rubbed her hand across his spine softly. "My nervous system is sending too much information. I have disabled the nervous system but I am still backlogged with information, a standby will allow me some space to clear and categorize the sensations I have felt today."

"Cam, I'm so sorry," John berated himself as he felt his girlfriend quivering, "I should have stopped sooner."

Cameron shook her head.

"John, do not apologize to me, it was worth it... It was worth this experience.." Cameron informed him, smiling to herself, "I am sorry that this experience could not be any longer, I am sorry I could not give you the attention you deserve."

"Relax, don't worry about me," John reassured her with a slight chuckle "lets educate you before we move on to me."

"Well I had fun," John stated as he sat up from off her breast to look into the cybernetic girls eyes, with a smirk he added, "what about you?"

Cameron smiled ecstatically as her response.

With much effort Cameron forced her arms around John's neck and brought him closer to her. "I love you John," Cameron said softly, bringing up her lips to touch his, "I shall see you inside one hour."

"I love you Cameron Ackerson," John returned to her, kissing her forehead, "I'll see you soon."

"Ackerson?"

"Your new last name," John said as he grazed her cheek as he watched her close her eyes, "we'll discuss it once you wake up."

"Cameron Ackerson..." She said as begun to power down, "...I like it."

The smile slipped off her expression as she powered down to work silently to herself. John sighed deeply as he pulled the blanket over top her naked body. He sat up and stretched himself out. Maybe he'd have a shower, clean himself off and head downstairs to brief his mom.

That was the plan until he looked back down at Cameron. With a smile to himself, he pulled himself under the blankets, resting his head on Cameron's pillow. He looked over to her sleeping form and gave her a fond look.

The report could wait for now, this was where he belonged.


	20. Regret

**Chapter Twenty: Regret**

**

* * *

**

Why was she awake? She would much rather be at his side.

This desire seemed unattainable as Cameron sat at her dresser, her body slightly hunched over. A single piece of blank paper sat in front of her on the makeshift table and a soft tipped pencil in her right hand slowly moving over it. Rapidly the simple shapes she was tracing were forming into something distinguishably human.

She had reactivated herself in the early morning. She had not planned on doing so. But something had been plaguing her mind as she had attempted to dream. It had been the look Sarah had given her last afternoon. The look that the woman had giving was one still clearly grieving. Although John hadn't noticed it, Cameron had seen Sarah Connor's well hidden and still present grief.

The thought of Sarah still being upset had also made Cameron strangely sad as well. This odd sadness must have been the reason she had reactivated before intending to. It may have been the reason why she was now losing time with Her John, it irritated her particularly since sunrise was only four hours and fifty two minutes away.

Under any other circumstances she would not be doing this, she would consider it a pointless activity and a waste of valuable time. But this would be worth it, at least she intended it to be. There was still a good chance that in her grief Sarah might reject the gift Cameron planned on giving her.

After all, Sarah might not enjoy owning a highly detailed sketch of Kyle Reese, and especially not the only image Cameron had of him in her data banks.

To ease that concern, she came to the conclusion that she had to alter the image for Sarah's sake. The only photo of Kyle she found on record was an image from his time detained in Century Work Camp. He was slightly younger than Sarah would have remembered. He was covered in bruising and lacerations, she knew logically that Sarah would not like this kind of accuracy. So Cameron made the concessions.

As she finished the facial structure she looked over her shoulder, watching John's body shift in his sleep. With a warm smile she turned back to the picture mechanically filing in the final aesthetic features.

Scanning the picture for any final flaws, she looked away from picture, a gift, a small memory of Kyle Reese. It was the least she could do for Sarah, the mother who cared for her. A woman still in love with a man gone for nearly twenty five years.

Cameron stood up from her seat and moved to sit where she usually stayed in standby, she looked over to John and placed the picture to where his head was resting. The Machine tilted her head as she observed him sleeping. Out of nowhere Cameron facial expression cracked a small grin as she remembered John's hands all over and inside her body.

She needed further experimentation with him. It would be required in order for her to have any meaningful sexual contact with her human. As much as she did not want to do it, she came to the conclusion that she might have to turn her nerve receivers by thirty five percent. From what Cameron figured, she'd have enough to feel every sensation, but not enough to overwhelm her like yesterday afternoon.

She laid herself down and wiggled her relatively small body as softy and as close to John as she could. She had a plan. Before John went to school she was going to wake him up and convince him to continue what they had started last afternoon.

No, waiting for John to make the move on his own would take too long, she would do have to start it now.

But just as Cameron had brought her lips to his, she paused and reluctantly backed her mouth away from John's. No, she decided. It would have to wait until John was awake. Only a freak would attempt to engage in sex with a sleeping person. Cameron unconsciously huffed and sat up. Walking back to the dresser, she carefully lifted the photo-like sketch up and quietly left the room. She could not bear to remain in the same room as John if she could not lay with John without the desire to disturb his sleep.

As Cameron closed the door behind her she looked down the hall to John's room and Sarah's as well. Not finding any sort of life signs in either of the bedrooms Cameron quickly reentered her room and crept to her closet. She bended over to gently lift up the P90 she had stashed away since Savannah's visit. Derek Reese wasn't in John's room. She would not allow him even the slightest chance to overpower her. She held the weapon to her side limply as she left the room once again and made her way downstairs.

As she reached the ground level and looked around briefly. As her eyes lit a vivid blue, Cameron used a deep scan through the home searching for any trace of a human thermal signature. After finding nothing but a faint heat reading from the backyard, it wasn't moving. Cameron ended her scan and walked tentatively towards the backyard.

She hoped it was Sarah, she did not want to cause trouble with Derek Reese. Just in case Cameron brought the P90 to a nearly defensive posture. As she passed through the living room the form became more and more slender, raising the likelihood that it was indeed Sarah Connor. So Cameron disabled her thermal vision and maintained course, this time at a slower pace.

Sarah sat alone on one of the steps down to the backyard, her M4 Carbine resting stock up on the step lower than her. She looked almost content. But there was something else. That sadness she held onto was still there, she was scanning the backyard the best she could with her human limitations.

The cyborg lowered the gun and kept the sketch of Kyle Reese from Sarah line of sight as she approached the woman in a way that would not disturb her peaceful expression. Deciding that the mother was reasonably fine with her presence, she softly walked up to where she was and sat herself down next to Sarah.

"Cameron? What are you doing up?" Sarah spoke up quiet, half smiling to the machine as she took a seat next to her. Sarah looked down at the P90 resting in Cameron's hands. Cameron noticed immediately that Sarah was now looking at the gun in her hands intently.

"I have the weapon just in case Derek Reese were to engage me," Cameron cleared the air for Sarah, Cameron leaned in and whispered, "he is not in his room."

Sarah nodded in understatement, "Don't worry," She replied to the worried machine, "He said he was going out for the night, also said he'd be back by the morning."

With the knowledge of Derek Reese gone from the house Cameron visibly relaxed. Cameron decided not to wonder where John's uncle may have went to, she just did not care anymore.

"I was attempting to remain in standby Sarah," Cameron informed as she shuffled in order to slightly lean on the rail, "but unfortunately my CPU was reading through my memory core data banks rather than emulating dreams for my time in sleep."

"You mean you're restless?" Sarah clarified after a moment's thought.

It was Cameron's turn to think., "Yes," Cameron concluded "I suppose that would be the correct definition."

"What's keeping you awake than Cameron?" Sarah gave Cameron a slightly concerned look before adding, "I hope you're not losing sleep over Derek."

Cameron shook her head quickly.

"No Sarah, you have been the subject of my distractions." Cameron stated with no tone. Sarah gave a sudden squinting look towards the cyborg.

"Would you like to clarify?" Sarah asked Cameron, who nodded in agreement.

"You still seemed to be very upset when you left my room at 3:43 PM yesterday afternoon." Cameron said as she shuffled next to Sarah, placing her hand on to Sarah's shoulder. "I was certain that our talk would have helped with your sad feelings." Cameron paused, she looked directly at Sarah and added. "Did my attempt at comfort fail in some way?"

Cameron looked very disheartened by the prospect of failing to get through to friend. Sarah smiled weakly to the girl and shook her head.

"No Cameron," Sarah denied, she looked down as a sudden rush of gratitude for the machine bubbled to the surface. "You did more for me than I ever expected," she uttered in a kind tone, "No one has ever gotten me to open up before, at least not in a very long time. But I just can't dump an emotion just because you and I talk about it..." Sarah paused and smiled wistfully "it be nice if I could Tin Miss, but it's not possible."

"I see, thank you for explaining." Cameron stated, slightly pleased with hearing her nickname again. Especially since it came from her new friend.

Cameron watched Sarah nod and turn her head away. Together they sat in silence, Sarah felt too awkward to engage Cameron in any further conversation. The cyborg allowed her to disengage, her own mind focused on the gift she had made for Sarah.

She was getting doubts now, her HUD was beginning to bring up facts and probabilities of reactions. Perhaps there had been a chance that Sarah would not like the drawing, Sarah may even laugh at her drawing and tell her that was not the Kyle Reese she remembered. Cameron closed her eyes, exhaling to get a grip of her mind. Sarah was her friend. Sarah would not laugh at her gift.

"Sarah?" Cameron called uncertainly as she rubbed the back of her neck, just like she had witnessed many do when they were in an uncomfortable situation.

"Hmm?"

Cameron rose the picture and brought it to her lap, not catching Sarah's attention until she said, "I would like to give you a gift if it is acceptable."

Sarah looked over to Cameron with a raised eyebrow. After a moment of Sarah nodded in acceptance. Slightly relieved, Cameron lifted the sketch and placed it into Sarah's lap and shuffled away from her friend just in case she got upset at the gift.

"What's this?" Sarah said as she lifted the picture to get a better look at it. The woman paused, her mouth dropping open as she begun to work out who Cameron had drawn for her. The eyes, the lips, the crooked smile, so many memories of a time that felt to be so long ago, back when she was a simple naive waitress.

"Kyle?" Sarah whispered not daring to believe what she was holding in her hands. Sarah looked back up to Cameron, her eyes wide in utter disbelief. Cameron returned the look with an inquiring stare, carefully judging for any sign of anger. There was no anger, just shock as she couldn't find any words to say.

"Cameron wh-what's going on here?" She asked, losing control of her firm voice, "why...why am I holding a picture of him?"

"It is a gift," Cameron stated innocently, "I know that humans sometimes lose clear images of people they care for over an extended period of time without them in their lives. I know I would not like to lose my memory of John's features, so I thought..."

The girl trailed off as she witnessed Sarah's tears rolling down her face. Did Sarah think the drawing was a horrible interpretation of Kyle Reese? Did she make some sort of grievous error in drawing?

"I mean," Cameron added, now very unsure of herself, "I know I could have just as easily uploaded the image to John's computer and printed it off, the image would be less grainy and there would be no deviation-"

Sarah flung her arms around Cameron rather unexpectedly somehow pulling the machine girl into her arms with ease. Cameron returned the odd clutching gesture with a sudden enthusiasm. Sarah was not sobbing like the previous time they had embraced, instead behind the tears was a woman who was happy, content now for receiving a renewed piece of her memory.

"I...I...well l like this so much more Cameron." Sarah murmured to Cameron, her voice tired from staying up all night.

"You do?" Cameron inquired curiously.

Sarah allowed the grip on the girl to loosen as she pulled away. Sarah nodded her head and smiled fondly as she dried the few rolling tears she had in her eyes.

"Thank you Cameron," Sarah finally managed to say, her tone conveying pure, uncorrupted sincerity, "thank you so much."

Cameron nodded her head as she watched Sarah turn away to look once more to Kyle's image. Cameron was excited, Sarah liked the gift despite the fact that she had only spent a meager four minutes and thirteen seconds drawing. The cyborg came to the conclusion that that maybe the amount of time put into something was not as important compared to the thought behind the actions.

"You got to stop making me cry Tin Miss, you're far to good at it." Sarah muttered to Cameron, finally breaking the silence. Cameron took it for a compliment and smiled softly.

"I know I'm not to praise you, might make you feel uncomfortable" Sarah mumbled to Cameron, trying not to make a big deal out of it for Cameron, "but you're very gifted Cameron, even if you don't appreciate it."

Cameron frowned slightly to herself as she heard the compliment, "Do not mention it Sarah Connor, this was for you," Cameron returned calmly not wanting to keep Sarah's compliment hanging in the air, "I require no praise for what I created. I was more than happy to do this."

Cameron looked over her shoulders to notice that Sarah's full attention had been on the sketch. Cameron smiled to herself despite her modesty, She was very ecstatic for pleasing the woman. It felt so positive to be doing something worthwhile.

"But thank you for your kind words Sarah." she added, deciding that it was best to accept the kind words given. "I am...glad you enjoy it."

Sarah smiled fondly at the girl's acceptance. With no more words said between them, Cameron felt her hand being taken by Sarah as together they sat observing the image of John's father in silence. For Sarah it was reliving the past and what could have been, but for Cameron it was the present and her future.

After all, a piece of Kyle Reese would always be with her.

* * *

"_John...John you have wake up...please we need you back...I need you back."_

_The man opened his eyes reluctantly as he heard the female voice called out to him amongst several other frantic voices screaming at one another. John groaned and tried his best to rub his pounding head, until he felt a soft hand with a firm grip keeping his hand in place._

"_What..What happened?" John called out, his voice gravelly. The other voices fell silent as he heard his burnt out voice request a situation report. He turned his eyes over to look into the eyes of an expressionless woman._

"_A T-600 broke through the lines," The woman explained to him swiftly, rubbing his sore head for him as she reached into the bag next to his sprawled body, "The machine blew up one of our fuel trucks, you took some shrapnel from the explosion to the neck but the concussion knocked you out, we had to carry you out of there."_

"_How long have I been out?" he muttered as pulled himself up, using his free hand to search for a wound. Sure enough a large bandage was covering the side of his neck, slightly damp with blood._

_"Three hours John," She explained to him as she helped him sit up very carefully, "we had thirty nine known casualties, sixteen wounded."_

"_What year is it?" John said, his mind unnaturally foggy. He looked down as he felt a small prick enter his arm. The woman sat at the base of his seat, a medical syringe in her hand, he was being pumped with some sort of painkiller._

"_Oh fuck..." one of the men panicked, thinking that his leader was now amnesiac. The woman turned her head, her lips forming an angry expression for the panicked man._

"_Shut up," The woman snapped, turning her attention away from the panicked soldier and with a much more kinder voice she said, "It is May 3rd 2018, we are sixty kilometers outside Lancaster, Los Angeles County."_

_John fell silent as his head bobbed slightly. Out of the blue, he chuckled slightly and with a strange humor he said "I had the strangest dream Cameron. I was sixteen again and you were there."_

"_I would hope so. If you were reminiscing about Riley Dawson I might just take off your bandage and let you bleed to death." Cameron warned him, a slight smile appeared behind her blood specked and dirt covered cheeks. Cameron wiped the blood from her face the best she could and leaned in, kissing him softly. She looked happy to have him back and awake._

"_Cam, do you have a mirror I could use? I want to see the damage." John requested weakly._

_Cameron gestured for a moment of patience. She slipped her hand into the medical bag and pulled out a shard of a dirty mirror and wiped it on her fatigues. John took it and raised it to his face so he could properly see the wound._

_The wound was pretty harsh looking, but Cameron had done a good job in fixing him up. But his real attention was on his face. His face was nearly pale from the blood loss, his facial structure was gaunt, the expression on his face deadened by years of war._

"_How's Connor doing back there?"_

_Cameron placed her fingers over his carotid artery, timing his pulse very carefully. "His pulse rate is satisfactory, it has slightly slowed down by the morphine I have administered." She called out to the man that was sitting behind the wheel, "Keep driving northeast to Foxtrot outpost, radio ahead and tell them of our arrival."_

"_Why are we moving?" John muttered roughly. He dropped the mirror on to the bag and extended his hands, asking for a weapon._

"_You are in a Stryker Armored fighting vehicle, Outpost Epsilon fell about two hours ago," Cameron explained to John, handing him an Mk 14 Battle Rifle, "the T-600 unit was a scout, it sent a GPS location out to Skynet Central Command."_

"_Did everyone get out?"_

_Cameron looked at him, her expression unreadable to most people. But to John, he knew the answer wasn't good. John laid his hand on to her cheek and gave her a determined look. _

"_We have to go back," John growled. He ignored the dulled shooting pain as he stood up and tried his best to walk to the driver as he added, "we got to go back."_

"_John," Cameron started, looking like she did not want to chastise him in front of the men, "at this point whatever survivors left have either been summarily executed or are have already been gathered into transports heading to various detention centers across the county."_

"_No one is left behind Cameron." John stated bluntly. "No one."_

_John took hold of Cameron's unnaturally smooth hands and looked as deep as he could in her unreadable expression. Cameron tightened her lips and after a moments deliberation, nodded resolutely. John shot her a grim smile in gratitude for the support._

"_Thanks Misses Connor."_

"_You are certainly welcome Mister Connor."_

_As Cameron smiled to her husband a sudden shuddering explosion rocked the vehicle, knocking John off base. Cameron quickly grabbed onto John's waist to keep him steady._

"_SHIT...WHAT IN THE FUCK JUST HIT US!" The Driver roared through his mic. Cameron sat John back down, kissing him on the forehead and moved back to the freaked out driver as another explosion rattled the vehicle._

_John felt a hot splash of liquid across his lap and jumped slightly. He was soaked in one of his men's blood, the man was still alive as he screamed in pain while another soldier tried to stop the flowing blood from his half burnt, half bleeding chest wound in vain. John shuffled out of the way and sat closer to where Cameron was now standing, trying his best to ignore the bloody awful mess._

"_Plasma emitters." Cameron called back to John as she gestured to the super heated Titanium plate armor damage. John watched as the heat slowly ate away at the armor as if it had been a flame to paper._

"_Plasma emitters...what in the HELL ar-"_

_xxxxx  
_

John opened his eyes, breathing more frantically than he should have been. He felt a hand on his chest as if checking for distress. It was Cameron who was hovering over him very nervously looking by him.

"Are you okay John?" Cameron asked, voice slightly worried. "Your body was spasming and your consciousness was deep in REM sleep, were you having a nightmare?"

"Not sure, it was about us in the future." John mumbled in turn "something about an outpost lost and plasma emitters" He looked up to Cameron and smiled warmly to her adding "We were married."

"That is a good sign, while I do not have all the details I would classify that as a good dream." Cameron informed him, a sudden bright smile from the prospect. The young man shifted in place in order to get a better view of her. Cameron sat there, her hair looking slightly frizzled. John stretched and sat up the best he could. Cam's eyes were carefully watching his every move, still full of concern for his state.

"Morning Cam." he said as he again took in the sight of Cameron sitting over him. A penetrating smile present on her lips.

"Good morning John," Cameron returned as she pecked him on forehead slowly, she rose and added "I apologize for the earlier wake up call."

"No problem," John replied as he took the hand on his chest and held them close him as he added, "What's up girlie?"

Cameron narrowed her eyes at the odd usage of a feminine term so she decided that her response to his crude flirting would be moving herself over top of him, her pelvis resting on his abdomen. Cameron tilted her head and as she ran her hand across his chest, she stated, "I have to inform you that Derek still has the truck, you will have to find another means of transportation."

"Alright," He moaned in suppressed pleasure. "I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say that's not the reason you want me awake earlier than usual."

"That is correct John." Cameron nodded and bit her lower lip, "I do have other reasons why I may need you awake sooner."

John felt his mind shut down by the implication she was blood used to fuel his brain was now being directed to other places in his body. John shuddered slightly as he lifted his arms to rub her hips, curves hidden slightly behind her nightwear.

"Got to take a shower Cameron." John said dumbly, saying the first thing that came to his mind. His words only seemed to make Cameron smile even wider as she scanned him.

"So do I."

John gulped. Why was Cameron doing this to him? Was she doing this on purpose to punish or tease him in some way? She was far too good at this, that, or she sincerely enjoyed watching him wither away in longing.

"Ah...well you want to go first?" he politely asked her. Cameron however shook her head.

"No John, It is nearly summertime now," She denied, tilting her head with a slight seductive smile "it might be wise to conserve water, we must do our best to help head off a possible water restrictions."

"Do not worry about anything John," Cameron quickly added before John had a chance to respond "I have already packed up your bag, double checked your homework and completed your essay, and all you need now is a long shower."

"Here John," Cameron said she stood up and walked over to the dresser and pulled a cup from off of it, not noticing or even paying attention to the look of shock in his eyes. "I have also made you a cup of coffee, black. Normally I would advise against this but a stimulant will wake up your body quicker."

Cameron handed him the cup. John thanked her briefly and sipped the well brewed coffee. As he did this he tried to regather his wits.

"I know I am very aroused at the moment, but try to see it from my own perspective, " Cameron admitted to him, off topic and with a sweet smile "you have shown me a side of human interaction that I only ever had theories about and never any practical firsthand knowledge."

"I have learned from yesterdays mistakes," Cameron said, not saying anything about John's blank look. "I have concluded that if I numb my nerve receptors to sixty-five to seventy-five percent I should have a reduced reaction but still equal to that of a regular human female," Cameron frowned to herself, adding on, "at least in theory it should work."

"I would like to test that theory out as soon as you finish that cup of coffee, so could you please increase your consumption of your beverage." Cameron finished as her eyes traveled to the cup in his hand.

John downed the coffee as he was asked to with great speed and sat up. He shook his head as if to clear it and looked towards Cameron. Cameron looked happy with his nonverbal agreement and even more happy when she felt his lips touching hers softly first. Each time he kissed her, more and more life came to him. Until finally John's hands slipped down her hips and took hold of her firm bottom.

"We must continue this in the bathroom John," Cameron softly begged after giving a slight gasp, "Your mother is asleep and will not suspect us engaging in physical stimulation in that particular room."

John nodded still very speechless from Cameron's bluntness as he took her hand giving Cameron permission to take him out of the room. Both of them crept down the semi darkened hallway. Cameron opened the door and entered as she pulled him in after her. She closed the door behind them and turned on both the light and fan.

Both John and Cameron could only wait long enough until the bathroom fan was on completely before they broke their look and went at each other as if Judgment day was fifteen minutes away. Both of them moved backwards despite their faces connected to one another.

It was a dance they had mastered with each other. They only broke it off as Cameron felt her shirt being raised over her head, she wasn't wearing a bra, a fact that John greatly appreciated. He didn't even bother to wonder if it had been coincidental or planned.

"Up." John requested as he patted the sink counter. Cameron looked at the counter and after deciding it could hold her, she nodded silently as she pulled herself onto it. Cameron looked back around to and wrapped her arms around John's neck. The human kissed the machine, his lips traveling down her body.

Cameron felt her jeans being unbuttoned and tugged away, her boyfriend's finger also grasping her panties as he pulled down around her ankles. She kicked them to the side as John's hands traveled across her thighs. She gasped in pleasure as she ran her hands roughly through his hair.

"Give me one moment John, I must weaken my nerve sensors." Cameron requested as she looked away, she fell silent as she played around with her receptors. Her HUD lit up slightly more than usual as it told her that she had decreased her nerves down to seventy percent.

"Okay John," she confirmed looking back up to him and smiled to her boyfriend adding, "We can continue now."

Cameron acted first, she pulled off John's shirt. Very happy that John saved time and only wore boxers to bed. Cameron kissed him. She decided that she wanted to try something new so she lowered her lips and kissed the top of John's ear. John's reaction was a sudden squirm in pleasure as he tried to maintain his lips on her.

"Why are we... doing this in here anyway?" John asked in between his kisses to various places on Cameron's soft skin. Cameron did not answer right as she rolled her head back from his renewed kisses to her breasts.

"With the fan and water running, I am hoping that this will aid in reducing the noise we make." Cameron replied as she reluctantly pulled away and slid off the counter. She quickly bent over to turn on the water and entered the shower feeling the water hit her skin.

"I think that you meant yourself." John teased Cameron as she turned back. Cameron frowned at him for the joke at her expense.

"I will admit that I am a major reason behind this needed sound barrier." Cameron stated, ruining the joke for John, "Please enter the shower now, and remove your boxers."

Cameron fell silent as she watched John slip slowly out of the final piece of clothing he had on his body. With a sudden bout of curiosity, Cameron tilted her water soaked head at the sight. It seemed like blood had already reached his sex organ. Cameron looked up after the brief inspection and smiled to him. She gestured for him to join her as she noticed his slightly shy demeanor.

John climbed in and slowly stepped over to her. He grabbed her wrist and pinned them gently over her head with ease. Cameron smiled at his attempt at dominance and even wider as he attacked her neck with a mixture of small pecks and heavy tongue pressure, playing with her more sensitive nerves.

The machine pulled one of her arms free and explored John's fully naked body for the first time. Her hand slowed down as it reached his groin. Cameron reached the base of his organ and grabbed it, finding herself very curious about using it for its purpose. Cameron smiled to herself as she felt John's lips shuddered against her skin.

Cameron chose let go of him and cleared her thoughts immediately, she had to deny herself the pleasure for the time being.

Suddenly John's hand hit a particularly sensitive nerve as it ran along her outside, causing her to give out a loud , stuttering moan. The unexpected sensation gave Cameron an idea, a wild and exciting idea, an idea she had witnessed in her dreams. Without any words Cameron forced the other pinned hand off the tile and placed it onto his head. She gently pushed him downwards to the bathtubs wet surface. John got the hint as he lowered himself down onto his knees and wrapped her arms around the cyborg's hips and found himself looking into Cameron's anatomically correct lower body.

He kissed her, she opened her eyes in shock as she felt his wet tongue touch her lower lips. John flicked his tongue across her opening with a rougher than what was needed. Cameron was aware that John was new at this and therefore relatively inexperienced, but expertise wasn't needed for Cameron. She was already exploding with a sudden desire to scream as loud as her voice could go.

Her HUD was racing, filing and categorizing the hundreds of physical sensations as quick and as efficiently as possible, after a moment more she looked down to him and uttered "John...John what are you doing to me?"

John did not answer her as his tongue entered her, Cameron's big brown eyes bugged out as her HUD flashed vividly blue, warning her that had she maintained her original nerve sensitivity, she would have probably shut down at this point. Cameron pondered to herself in between her near orgasmic shakes about using infiltration mode. Doing so would allow her to activate her nerves to full use without shutting down. All of the physical sensations would be accepted and discarded without the need of building a basic nerve tolerance to sex.

As tempting as it sounded, she tossed the idea. Using her infiltration mode got her into the mess she was in after her date with Riley Dawson. No, she would never use the program again.

John decided that it was time to try something new. He focused attention on the soft bump on the outside of her and was shocked by the response. It was as if the dam of Cameron's self control had crumbled. She wailed, nearly screaming out John's name loud enough that he feared his mom would come running.

John paused and looked up at Cameron. He couldn't contain his nervousness. Cameron rested her back against the wall not caring at all for the consequences of her reaction. Giving John only a moment of rest, she pushed him back to her demanding, begging for his affection to continue. Thankfully John was happy to comply, deciding that he was already damned if he did, damned if he didn't.

It didn't take long to realize their moment was over. A second later a fist smashed at the door with enough power to rattle the medicine cabinet.

"JOHN!" the woman banging at the door called out violently, "JOHN YOU BETTER NOT BE IN THERE!"

John leaned back and looked up at Cameron. She was heaving like mad as the water continued to spray over her incredibly distracting body. It seemed that either Cameron had blocked out the sound of John's mother attempting to break down the door. That she simply didn't care at that particular moment as she attempted to push John's face back where it had been hoping that he would continue.

Giving her one last kiss along her sensitive parts John stood up and looked at Cameron with a mischievous smile. Cameron leaned in and kissed his mouth, happily tasting her own arousal on his lips.

"I love you John." She said dolefully as she pulled away from him.

"I love you too Cam." John replied. Cameron loved hearing him say those simple words so much that she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her body.

"Stay here." She called as she finally let go of him and stepped out of the hot shower. Cameron strolled over to the door casually despite her being completely wet and naked. Cameron opened the door and smiled softly to the shocked woman on the other side.

"Hello Sarah," Cameron said, shockingly bright. She could tell from the expression on Sarah's face that the woman was alarmed. In reality Sarah didn't know how to feel. Half of her was enraged, but the other half was withdrawing in horror, "I take full responsibility for what has occurred here, I was tempting John into the act, he is only a human, a male one at that. He fought his urge as long as he could. It is my fault," Cameron admitted, giving Sarah a worried look added "please do not get angry."

"Get out of the bathroom right now Cameron, and for god sake cover yourself up." Sarah said trying to remain as calm as possible, trying her best not to yell at the girl, "John's going to have his shower alone."

Cameron nodded and closed the door again. Without words she walked over to John and gave him a chaste kiss before pulling a towel from off the rack and covered herself up. Cameron left her wet hair still dangling on her shoulder, water still dipping to the floor.

She exited the bathroom under the watchful eyes of Sarah Connor. As the cyborg opened her bedroom door up she shot John's mother one last bright smile before quickly hiding away in her bedroom, leaving Sarah alone stewing in her own angry thoughts. Sarah groaned and rubbed her forehead unable to believe what she had just endured, after a moment of trying unsuccessfully to remove the image of a wet machine girl fooling around with her son.

"AND FROM NOW ON ALL SHOWERS BETTER BE ALONE!" She suddenly yelled so that both guilty parties would get the message loud and clear.

All that the loud demand earned Sarah was a belly laugh from the bathroom.

* * *

"So I found a nice little place out in West L.A Reese, expensive as hell I'll admit, but well worth it. Change of scenery will be nice. Kind of got tired being cooped up here anyway."

Jesse Flores walked out of her bathroom, maneuvering herself through a few moving boxes and paused in front of Derek. Wearing only her bra and a pair of blue jeans, Jesse watched as Reese's dark expression tore right through her with ease.

"When I get the new place I'll call you once I unpack everything," Jesse said, trying to get through to him with a lighter voice. "We'll hang out and break my new place in. I already found a new little place for us to dick around and drink, right by the beach to which will be awesome, we'll have a few days of rest before we make any kind of move."

Still Reese said nothing to her.

"Are you even listening?" she said, clearly becoming irritated by the lack of enthusiasm from Derek.

Still Reese said nothing to her.

"What in the hell is bothering you?" Jesse demanded. She did not like being ignored. The one time that she actually wanted sex from him, Derek was too fucked up to give it to her.

"Nothing." he finally responded, his mind a million miles away and nearly twenty years in the future.

"Bullshit Reese," Jesse Flores countered his aloof behavior, "you didn't drink last night, you barely said two words. Hell you didn't even try to screw me. You're like a fucking ghost!"

Derek continued to look at the wall in front of him. Jesse sighed and her glare weakened. He was back in the war, or Century Work Camp getting his ass tortured. Perhaps he was discovering the fate of Allison Young, or finding out his brother was dead and gone. Where ever he was at the moment it wasn't good. Jesse sighed and slipped into a shirt and took a seat next to him on the bed.

"What's the matter Derek?" Jesse repeated, her voice much softer now. Tentatively Jesse took Derek's hand and shook it slightly, trying to break his frightened silence. Reese broke his trace and lowered his eyes, not wanting to look at Jesse if he could help it.

"I..Uh, I scared the machine." he finally muttered to Jesse Flores, who opened her eyes wide at his blunt statement. He didn't bother to look in to her eyes as he thought about the events of yesterday. Derek sighed as he shook his head as he tried to shake the feeling that there was more to the machine than what met the eye.

"I hit Cameron a few days ago." He finally whispered to her, "I lost control of myself. I guess that she had decided that bringing up Kyle and Allison was a good idea, so I hit the machine as hard as I could." Derek paused as he swallowed what felt like a hard lump in his throat. "I thought that it would feel good Jesse," He continued, a more ragged tone than before, "I thought that maybe hitting that metal would make me feel better."

"It didn't." He stated before Jesse could compliment him on the attack on the strange machine. "It felt as if I fucking attacked Allison, not some goddamn machine."

Jesse watched in disbelief as Derek Reese started to shake at the thought of abusing Allison Young. His memories had falling back to that screwed up state she found him in. Poor miserable bastard was falling apart again. She thought that she had fixed him, she thought he had gotten back on track with his life. This was the machine's fault, that fucked up metal monstrosity was messing with his very fragile sanity. The bitch needed to be stopped for his sake. Jesse broke herself from the thought and placed her arms around Derek's shoulders.

"It's not her Derek," Jesse told him with a surprising level of patience, holding the nearly broken man close to her, cradling him comfortingly, "I thought we went over this already."

"I know we have Flores," Derek said, agreeing with her logic. "But Christ, I don't know what to think anymore. It acts different, the way it talks. The way it expresses itself." Derek sighed and rubbed his eyes, adding "With Sarah being friends with it I just don't know what to do anymore."

"And with Cameron and this new obsession with trying to keep everything running smoothly for John and Sarah, they're eating it up!" he exclaimed angrily "They think I'm the one who's fucked up about what I think about the metal."

"For FUCKS sake Jesse!" Derek spat out suddenly unable to contain his disgust and fear of the machine, "I hit the metal and now it's FRIGHTENED of me!"

"All the more reason to destroy it Derek," The female soldier informed her counterpart, "this machine now thinks it's human only because of the people that think so as well. What if it can't handle playing human over the long run? What if it lashes out and kills the Connors, I mean it already nearly happened before." she reminded him pointedly. "It's a threat that has to be destroyed right now."

Derek rubbed his forehead and groaned slightly, "We can't Jesse." he muttered to her, unable to believe he was disagreeing with Jesse over their shared view of Cameron.

"Why the hell not?" She snapped back to Derek's reluctance, "We have the guns, the plans and the knowhow. We just lure it out of hiding and kill that metal fuck."

"Jesse, Cameron has friends." Derek warned her. His thoughts drifted to the redhead who seemed to love the machine as if it was her own flesh and blood. It would be a horrible, bloody confrontation if he and Jesse were to square off against Cameron and the near limitless resources Catherine Weaver had at her disposal.

"We can handle John and Sarah," Jesse replied confidently. "All they need is a wakeup call."

Derek didn't like the way Jesse Flores said_ wake up call._ Not one bit. Derek thought something was wrong with Jesse. There was almost a feverish desire to get close to the Connors, to help shape both of their futures. A future without the machine in it. As much as he liked that idea, a small part of himself felt a chill about what exactly this woman wanted to do to his extended family. Ever since finding surveillance photos of John and Sarah he was no longer sure who Jesse Flores was anymore.

"No Jesse," Derek finally returned darkly, his thought fell again to the redhead who had threatened his life and oddly enough turned him on at the same time, "I don't mean them."

Judging by the confused look Jesse had no idea what he was talking about. _Good_, Derek thought to himself '_maybe Jesse had backed off from her spying on the Connors.'_

"You know about a company called Zeira Corporation?" Derek continued as he inquired from the woman. The company name seemed to have caught Jesse's attention as she reaffirmed her careful look.

"Yeah Reese," Jesse slowly confirmed, "They're fairly shady tech firm that always seems to turn a profit despite rarely turning anything out for the public to buy. Apparently, some mental case of a widow took over the company after an accident involving her husband."

"Mental case?" Derek asked with a slight chuckle at the name calling. Immediately after he felt suddenly guilty for the laugh at Weavers expense when he heard the word widow uttered. "What happened?" Derek asked as casually as he could, wanting to hit himself for his lack of sympathy for Weaver.

"She and her husband were involved in a helicopter accident." Flores explained, bringing herself closer to Derek, "a contact of mine in the tech world told me that she suffered some sort of brain trauma from the crash, apparently came out a completely different woman."

Derek nodded slightly. An accident of that magnitude could indeed change people completely. Losing a husband and a head injury could have easily led to a permanent change in her personality.

"Well Cameron is friends with her." Derek informed her, "real chummy together... even helps babysit her kid." Derek felt himself cringe at the idea of machines caring for a child.

"Do you think-" Jesse started only to cut herself off by Derek's adamantly shaking his head.

"No," Derek denied immediately, his brain and heart telling him that Weaver was human "A metal would want to remain very low key, they'd rather be some average nobody than someone in charge of a multinational technology firm." Derek replied confidently "Nah, Catherine Weaver is a human, a red blooded woman, and I have proof too." Derek finished with a confident tone.

"Oh really? And how do you know that Derek?" Jesse demanded from her lover with a suspicious look. Derek shrugged his shoulders and shot Jesse a wide lecherous grin.

"She wants me." He simply stated, his smile becoming even more pronounced.

"Oh really?" Jesse retorted raising her eyebrows at Derek's boast.

"Yeah really," Derek said as he raised his own eyebrows and rested the back of his head in his arms, feeling in a much lighter mood than he had been a few minutes prior during the Cameron talk, "you got some competition Jesse, Weaver's one hot babe."

"You're delusional Reese." Jesse returned with a roll of her eyes and a slap to his chest "Someone as wealthy and intelligent as Catherine Weaver sure as hell ain't gonna slum for the likes of you."

"That's a pretty confident stance there Flores," Derek shot back to her with a kinder smile, "Weaver totally wants me."

"So that's why you didn't sleep with me." Jesse said, jokingly feigned in understatement. Derek laughed again at the remark and nodded his head.

"Spot on Jesse." He confirmed, still "I think I'm digging redheads at this point."

The joking died down as the two looked at each other over their shoulders, obvious lust coming back into Derek's eyes.. Jesse smiled fondly at him as she shifted her body around.

"Even after everything we've been through?" Jesse continued as she took a seat onto Derek's lap. "Everything I've done to help you, you're just gonna go up and leave me for some redheaded multi-millionaire sociopath?"

"Sounds tempting and all...but since you put it that way." Derek muttered to her, their lips inches away from one another. They kissed, Jesse's lips softly touched his.

"I thought so." She whispered back to him softly as he pulled away, watching as Jesse took her shirt back. A silent indication of what she wanted. Derek kissed her again, deciding to make up for last night's missed opportunity.


	21. The Luncheon

**Chapter Twenty One: The Luncheon**

**

* * *

**

Sarah sat on the opposite end of the table from Cameron, both of them eating in silence, both of them looking like they had something to say, yet neither having the ability to do so. Sarah looked up to the machine, noticing her head had been bowed, a large satisfied smile resting on her lips.

Sarah knew what Cameron was smiling about. Her new fun little activity with her son. Doing things to him that she would never dare utter aloud. Not that she hadn't done any of that herself when she was younger, but this was different, this was her son Cameron was fooling around with!

It wasn't that she was angry at the girl for what she had done. Cameron had become curious about herself and the different things that came with human existence. Sarah couldn't sit there and blame the machine for wanting to try something like sex. What she had a problem with was more along the lines of knowing what those two were up to and wanting to never, ever hear or witness their activities ever again.

"How is your breakfast Sarah?" Cameron called out loud as she sat there picking through the meal she had made, clearly not interested with eating at that moment.

"Fine." Sarah returned bluntly.

Cameron nodded and lowered her spoon to lift her drink from off the table. She gently sipped it, very worried of a possibly burning her taste buds from the heat. She frowned to herself as she noticed that Sarah facial expression was displaying an obvious displeasure of Cameron's presence. Wondering why this was so she decided to ask.

"Sarah?" Cameron called out as she set down her cup of tea to look at her. Instead of receiving the usual response Sarah coldly ignored the girl's query.

"Sarah?" The machine called again, this time worried about the lack of response.

Cameron received no answer from her friend. Cameron's eyes darted across the stubborn woman's expression. She felt a sudden chill of negative emotion enter her mind. No, this wasn't good, Cameron concluded. Sarah was mad at her. Sarah despised her for what she did with John.

"Sarah are you angry at me?" Cameron asked, her voice more desperate now than it had been a moment or two prior, "I cannot apologize for what we did. Apologies must be sincere and seeing as I thoroughly enjo-"

"NO...no, just...stop with that thought right now Cameron," Sarah demanded from the cyborg before she could finish, "I just don't want to hear that crap at the moment."

Cameron opened her mouth to reply once again until she noticed Sarah's intense eyes were telling her clearly to close her mouth. Cameron obliged the mother's silent request and looked down to her plate, slowly picking through a fruit salad she had made herself.

After nearly five minutes of mutual, tense silence. Cameron looked up and blurted out "I thought you would have understood that John and I plan on being together for a very long period of time." With a smile to herself she added "It would be only natural that he and I will be exploring one another as often as-"

"NO," Sarah suddenly snapped at her, "Cameron don't...don't talk to me about what you plan on doing to one another."

Cameron frowned and tilted her head.

"Sarah I apologize for my bluntness but do you think you are being a little naive?" She inquired trying to maintain a neutral tone at Sarah's surprising amount of protest "This was inevitable and it will only become more frequent with time."

As Sarah shuddered slightly, Cameron found her feeling a sudden plunge in her mind, finally she dropped her fork and asked. "Are we not going to be friends over this Sarah? I do not want to lose John or yourself to this." Cameron tried to smile but was rapidly becoming lost in her own worry. She didn't want to lose such a new and important friendship. Deciding that Sarah did not want her in the room, she stood up and took her dishes over to the sink.

"Alright, Alright Cameron." Sarah called out to her in a very exasperated tone. "Everything is going to be fine so sit your butt back down will you?"

Cameron turned her eyes back to Sarah with slight suspicion, so Sarah sighed and very reluctantly said "I know that I can't stop you so I just want some ground rules for the pair of you."

Staring carefully at the woman briefly, Cameron finally smiled and nodded to the request, "Of course Sarah, I am sorry." she stated as she sat back down, her cheeks tinged pink as she blushed over her overreaction.

Sarah placed her hands on her face and turned her eyes up to look at Cameron's. Feeling slightly better than she had since learning of Cameron and John's sex life she looked back at the cyborg and gave her a slightly irritated look.

"From now on you don't talk about it, you don't bring it up or joke around with John about it whenever I'm around the both of you." Sarah told her off with her commanding tone, "If you do..Well you know... I had better be asleep."

"We attempted to but you woke up," she returned dutifully, "unfortunately however I was louder than I expected when John-"

"Doesn't matter Tin Miss!" Sarah quickly cut through her words so that she did not have to learn any details at all about what had happened in the shower, "I'm gonna go out and buy a gag ball for you to use if I have to, help quiet you down."

Cameron tilted her head curiously, "I was under the impression you fully understood," She pointed out to John's mother. "I have it in my files that you informed John and I that you would be acquiring _earplugs _for personal use in order to ignore our activities."

"That's called sexual innuendo Cameron," Sarah explained incredulously "it's a kind of dirty joke, I didn't think you'd actually go for it!"

"I see Sarah Connor," Cameron finally said, unable to determine the need to use the joke. Finally the machine added "I am sorry but I do not see the point of joking about sex. Sex is an important part of any potentially serious relationship, but I will attempt to abide to your request Sarah," Cameron added to her statement, making Sarah feel slightly better until Cameron tacked on, "but I must re-inform you about rule two."

"Don't you be telling me the rules, I'm the one with the name on the lease for this house." Sarah huffed, annoyed by the machines natural stubbornness. "I get some say on what goes on here!"

"Besides, I'm not saying no Cameron," Sarah sighed as she begun to notice the put off expression Cameron had, "Just... just be more like cats."

"Cats Sarah?" Cameron asked, more confused than ever as to what exactly feline reproduction had to do with John and her own sexual activities.

"Yeah," Sarah confirmed with a mild odd grin to herself, "you know they're fooling around, you just never see or hear them."

"I see, Thank you for explaining Sarah." Cameron stated mechanically, fully understanding what Sarah had been getting at. "For future reference however," the terminator added for Sarah's sake, "I have come to the conclusion that the use of metaphors as a speech device is an activity I have come to dislike."

Before Sarah even had a chance to react in annoyance to Cameron's new irritation, the mobile phone in her pocket vibrated. Sarah exhaled a long thankful breath for being saved by the caller.

"Alright Tin Miss, good talk," Sarah said as she stood up from her chair and pulled her mobile phone from her pocket, "I'm going to take this call, you just sit right there think about what I said." with a small nod Sarah brushed past Cameron. But as the older woman she felt her wrist suddenly grabbed by the cyborg's vice like grip. Sarah looked down to the machine that looked deadly serious.

"Of course Sarah Connor," Cameron promised her firmly, with slight hesitation she added "I love you."

Sarah widened her eyes at the remark. Feeling a massive wave of guilt. She knew that Cameron really did care for her but love? Sarah remembered the gift she received from Cameron and sighed. Maybe she was being too hard on the machine.

"I know Cameron," Sarah said as she vaguely felt the phone still vibrating patiently in her hand as she looked into Cameron's intense stare, she smiled and said "I'm fond of you too."

Cameron smiled excitedly at what Sarah finally said to her. It wasn't the word she wanted to hear from her friend, but it was a start.

"I'm still not very happy about this Cameron so don't get too excited." Sarah muttered to her, still wanting remain stubbornly against her son and Cameron's new games.

"I understand." Cameron said knowingly, she smiled as she knew that Sarah and her were going to be okay. Cameron let her hand slip away and allowed Sarah to exit the room without anymore incident. Sarah headed upstairs. By the time she reached halfway she hit the talk button and pressed it against her ear.

"Hello Sarah Connor, I hope you are well." Catherine Weavers uncompromising voice called out to her.

"Weaver?" Sarah inquired as she sat on the staircase and leaned her free hand into her face pushing pressure against the growing headache, "yeah, I'm fine, what do you need?"

"You don't sound fine Miss Connor, Is something troubling you?" The cold tone inquired, a faint hint of concern behind her words.

"Yeah something's troubling me," Sarah snapped back as she stood back up and stormed up the stairs. "John and Cameron have decided that fooling around now has become acceptable."

"Oh my."

"That's all you got to say for this? Oh_ my?_" Sarah mimicked the machines relative aloofness to the situation. "For Christ sake Weaver! I thought you told her no sex!"

"I informed John and Cameron to hold off with intercourse for the time being." Catherine corrected for Sarah patiently. "Everything other than that will be a very informative learning experience for Cameron."

"Which," Weaver added, "I strongly suggest that they should be doing. Sex could be potentially deadly to John if Cameron does not have a tolerance to powerful nerve stimulations."

"Death by crushed pelvis would not be a very heroic end for John Connor, would you not agree?" Catherine asked Sarah, the slightest tone of humor to her voice.

Sarah rubbed the bridge of her nose for what felt like the tenth time that morning at her headache seemed to build, "I'm looking for an ally here!" Sarah stated in frustration, "Why don't you tell her not to fool around?"

"I am afraid that that is just not possible," The T-1001 concluded, a very apologetic tone present now," If you seek an ally in this struggle I suggest Mister Reese." The way Weaver said Derek Reese sounded almost like a taunt to her. As if Sarah was the bad guy for not being excited about her son's brand new sex life.

"What do you want?" Sarah muttered as she paced the hallway.

"I'm at the office at the moment," Catherine returned in a much more propitious tone "I was wondering as to what Cameron and yourself had planned for this afternoon?"

"Not much." Sarah shrugged her shoulders to herself.

"Very good," Catherine murmured approvingly, "I was thinking of taking a prolonged lunch break, I was hoping that Cameron and yourself would be up for joining me for something to eat, I am certain Cameron will approve, one of the data packets sent to my son during the incident indicated that Cameron has a real affinity for fine dining."

Meeting Catherine Weaver for a lunch outing? Something told Sarah that this outing wasn't going to be as pleasant an outing as Catherine wanted to make it out to be.

"Where is it at..." Connor inquired cautiously.

"West Hollywood, a little place called Petrossian," The machine informed the woman, "apparently it is rather popular with some of my higher level employees."

Sarah yawned slightly to herself still feeling slightly tired from her and Cameron's argument but nonetheless added "We'll be there."

"Delightful." Catherine returned approvingly, as if Sarah had been giving a choice in the matter. "I have a reservation at 12:15, I am sure that Cameron can locate the place herself. I will see you then, give Cameron my regards." Weaver finished sounding like she was in a rush.

Before Sarah could even get out a simple 'bye' the phone clicked off. As she turned off her own phone, Sarah groaned to herself not liking what she had gotten herself in to. At least meeting Weaver for lunch would give her the perfect opportunity to distract herself from this morning's events.

* * *

There was something wrong with the Baum's.

They were a nice enough family, never behind on rent, they never caused trouble or were the cause of any complaints from their neighbors. They were an example of everything Kacy Cotton wanted in a tenant family.

At least that had been what she thought. She wasn't sure when things changed. She had only recently started noticing signs. It started innocently enough when she noticed that the two teens in the house had stopped going to school. One of the more disturbing events Kacy had been witness to was overhearing a loud and very peculiar shouting match one night amongst the family. She had been on the verge of doing something until the man named Derek Reese had begun his screaming at Sarah incomprehensibly. After listening to Derek rage she decided she didn't want to get involved that night.

After that things had quieted down a lot over the weeks and returned to normal, with the exception that John and Cameron were still not going to school. One night after coming home from his shift Trevor had noticed an odd vehicle sitting in their driveway. It was a Lexus belonging to a woman neither he or she had ever seen before.

Normally this wouldn't have bothered her she thought as she waddled down the driveway, the weight from what was in her limiting her to a very slow pace. The Baums were not people to get visitors often so when one showed up, naturally Kacy was curious.

Today Kacy wasn't here as the landlord, she was here as a friend and a curious silent witness to some truly strange events. As the woman passed by the Baum's Dodge Ram, she noticed someone sitting in it. It was Derek and he was passed out, his head looked slightly slumped. Kacy couldn't help but chuckle to herself.

Derek Reese was a funny, good looking guy, even with that freshly hungover look it gave him a kind of strange rugged attractiveness. If she wasn't with Trevor and didn't have a baby on the way, she would certainly be trying to get him into her bed.

Kacy shook her head from the dirty thought as continue to walk to the Baum's house. Things were going good with Trevor, she wasn't about to mess it up. Within seconds of knocking the door had been pulled open and Sarah Baum stood in the doorway. The initial look of penetrating intimidation gave way to a much kinder smile.

"Oh... hello Kacy." she said as she changed her mood at the sight of the pregnant woman.

"Hey Sarah, it's been awhile what's up?" Kacy exclaimed as she smacked the strong looking woman on the arm.

"Things have been pretty quiet," Sarah replied as she leaned on the side of the door and crossed her arms guardedly, "just been relaxing at home, Is there something I could do for you?" There was bluntness to the way she asked. It sounded like she was on a tight schedule and wasn't at all ready to alter it for the pregnant woman.

"I just thought I'd come over," Kacy replied lightly, adding, "See how you were doing. How are those two kids of yours?"

Sarah's smile fell off her face as heard the mention of her children. Instead now Sarah now looked slightly guilty, as if needing to say something that she did not want to freely admit. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that." She mumbled as gestured Kacy to enter the house. Kacy did so happily more than happy to get out of the sun.

"About what?" She asked as Sarah closed the door behind her.

"Cameron and John," Sarah explained slowly, sounding reluctant to tell her about the more personal aspects of her life, "Cameron isn't my daughter."

Kacy widened her eyes and dropped open her mouth at the revelation. Here she thought The Baum's were an atypical family. But now it started to make more and more sense. Cameron kind of always seemed to be outside the family dynamic. Strange and quiet she always seemed to be off in her mind most of the time.

"Wow..." She said to the older woman trying to maintain a fairly light tone in light of the revelation "that was blunt."

"I mean, I love her like one of my own," Sarah quickly added "but she's a foster child."

"John and Cameron met back when they were twelve, thirteen." Sarah explained to her before Kacy could ask why Sarah had lied, a grim expression transplanted onto her face. "She was a strange girl, use to come over all the time for dinner, weekends, whenever she could really." Sarah paused for a moment and added "Lively girl until one day she didn't come over for a few days. I found her a few nights later on the streets, covered in bruises."

"Her parents?" Kacy asked, finding herself unable to believe what she had been hearing. However, Sarah shook her head.

"Her Dad," Sarah corrected her, "her mom took her life a few weeks after she was born, postpartum psychosis."

Kacy's mouth dropped open, completely ignoring the kick her child gave inside her. She couldn't even imagine a life where she would have thought she was the reason why her mother ended her life while her father beat the hell out of her.

"So we applied for guardianship and took her in." Sarah continued, breaking Kacy from the horrible thoughts she was having "Problem was I didn't realize that Cameron was...attracted to John until this year, so as a way to them apart we claimed they were biologically related."

"You didn't want those two together so you lied?" Kacy asked, doing her very best not to sound judgmental for Sarah's reasoning. "Did you think the girl wasn't good enough for him?"

"No Kacy, Cameron is a good choice and all but she was just so different," Sarah stated quickly, "It's just that her personality is very withdrawn, she stayed detached from everything but John. What I didn't realize was Cameron had suffered mental trauma from the abuse and denying her a chance with John pushed her over the edge."

"So the screaming match a few weeks ago?" She asked, allowing a slight knowing grin to be seen, "I take it they got together then?"

"What?" Sarah asked, confusion and suspicion entering her expression. Kacy did a slight double take from Sarah's reaction. There it was again, an intimidating look that clearly told her that she had best explain herself.

"Couple weeks ago between you, John and Derek." She cleared up, hoping to subvert the mistrust Sarah started to show. It worked, Sarah hesitated briefly and then nodded her head curtly.

"Ah," Sarah said finally, allowing her suspicion to past by and her smile to return slightly, "yeah, Derek and I weren't impressed when John and Cameron announced they were seeing each other. Kind of screwed my lie up big time."

Kacy watched enviously as Sarah pulled on her shoes with no difficulty. After she did so Sarah looked back to her, a calculative look now present.

"Listen, I let Cameron make breakfast this morning," Sarah said with a sudden slight chuckle, "she got way too enthusiastic and made a whole pile of food, you're welcome to dig in if you would like."

"Thanks," Kacy replied, her hormones telling her to take the offer, "Yeah I'm pretty much always hungry at this point."

Sarah agreed reminded of her own pregnancy, after a second she said "I'm gonna go wake Derek up outside, bugger thinks it's okay to be passed out in the truck." Just as Sarah opened the door again, she paused and turned back to Kacy.

"A word of advice," Sarah stressed as she placed her hand on to the pregnant woman's shoulder, "Cameron just had a breakdown a few days ago, we've got her taking medication, so she may act...different than what you remember, please try to be patient with her if she does something that bothers you, it's not her fault really."

"I'm sure we'll be fine." Kacy returned confidently, believing Cameron to be harmless. Sarah nodded again and exited the home. Kacy turned back around and slowly made her way into the kitchen. Cameron stood at the kitchen counter cleaning up with one hand, her other hand busy text message off to someone, most likely John Baum.

"Hello Cameron" she said kindly as she pushed her bloated body towards the counter, where the girl was standing. Cameron looked up from her cellphone and gazed at her, as if not sure of who she was looking at. After a second or so of strange staring much to Kacy's own surprise Cameron smiled vividly.

"Hello Kacy Cotton," Cameron called back, her voice uncharacteristically brighter than she had ever heard before, "how is the final term of your pregnancy going for you?"

"I'm doing good Cameron," Kacy said as she watched Cameron slip her cellphone away, "Sarah told me about what happened." She added and with a much more sympathetic tone she added, "How are you feeling?"

Cameron's smile seemed to fall slightly looking like she did not want anything to do with that conversation. "I am doing better," Cameron finally said, her eyes lowered down and looking at her bulge curiously, after a moment of quiet deliberation Cameron smiled to herself and asked "May I touch your stomach?"

Cameron curious? In Kacy's brief interaction with the girl, she had never seemed to have much of an interest in trivial things like pregnancy so Kacy smiled and said, "Yeah of course."

Tentatively Cameron slowly moved her hands over and rested it onto her. As she did so, Cameron dropped her head down and looked at her belly, as if she had the ability to look through her. Out of nowhere, the baby kicked, causing Cameron to snap her hand back and looked back up to Kacy, her eyes excited.

"It kicked!" The girl nearly exclaimed, looking unable to believe what she had just felt.

"Yup, she's been doing it all morning." Kacy replied brightly as she finished dishing herself a second breakfast.

"You believe it will be a girl?" Cameron asked curiously.

"I hope so," Kacy said as she patting her stomach and sat down to rest in the chair, "girls don't generally want to follow in their father's footsteps, having a cop for a father I certainly don't want my baby growing up to be one."

Kacy watched Cameron as she seem to contemplate the idea. "That is sound reasoning Kacy Cotton," Cameron finally said aloud to her, "I hope it is a girl as well."

Cameron lapsed back into silence and sat down as well, her eyes never leaving Kacy. Kacy felt suddenly uncomfortable, it was as if Cameron had been staring right through her. But, like Sarah had said, it was best to allow it to slide. So instead of looking back to the odd girl she started to eat away savoring the slightly cold bacon and pancakes. Even as Kacy ate, Cameron held her solid gaze.

"So, you and John?" Kacy asked, hoping to break the silent one sided staring contest. It worked, Cameron came out of her trance and nodded vigorously.

"How's that going?"

"It is going better than I had anticipated," Cameron replied, an infectious smile graced her gorgeous complexion, "we hit a small snag this morning but it was not between us."

"Sarah?" Kacy guessed, knowing that Sarah did not strike her as an easy going, relaxed parent. Before Cameron could respond, Sarah and behind her Derek Reese came trudging into the Kitchen. Sarah looked more annoyed than usual, whereas Derek seemed to have had a small boyish smile

"How's the hangover there Reese?" Kacy asked as he pulled a plate from out of the kitchen cabinet. Derek didn't answer it right away as he started to shovel on whatever he could find to eat. If Kacy hadn't been paying attention to Derek, she would have noticed that Cameron had gone rigid.

"How's my favorite pregnant neighbor lady, did you kick Trevor out yet?" Derek welcomed finally, his voice sounding groggy to her but still with a trace of the humor she had found slightly endearing.

Turning slightly red from the man's flirting Kacy said, "Derek, if you keep that kind of flattery up I'll end it with him so that you can move in with me instead."

Derek laughed at her response as he took a seat next to her, a piece of bacon in his injured hand. "Hell Kacy," he said loudly, "I might just have to take you up on it."

"Yeah," Sarah's standard serious voice broke through the joking between the two much more fun people in the house. "Please Kacy, take him away from me."

"Hey Sarah, you learned how to cook? Looks good." Derek said in turn, complimenting the wrong woman. Cameron suddenly looked up to Derek as he dug in to the food she had prepared, distrust present in her eyes.

"Cameron made it," Sarah returned. Derek gagged suddenly as if he thought the food was poisoned. Cameron tilted her head, observing Derek's strong negative reaction. Derek looked up and met Cameron's gaze, Cameron's eyes widened and quickly looked away from him.

The pregnant woman did a double-take at this sudden strong reaction from both Cameron and Derek over something as simple as who made breakfast. Kacy watched the tension in the house increase tenfold as a sudden dangerous silence sprang up between Sarah and Derek. She could tell this tension had been building for a long time. Sarah wasn't impressed at all as she looked at her son's uncle.

"What's going on here?" Kacy questioned Sarah curiously, forcing Sarah's gaze from Derek. Kacy followed the gaze and turned her look towards Cameron who continued to bow her head, looking as if she never wanted anyone to look at her ever again. After several more moments of carefully watching Cameron's reaction, Sarah looked back up to Kacy, anger in her eyes.

"Yeah, something's going on Kacy, Derek's a real asshole, didn't you know that?" Sarah told her, her voice mocking as she continued to stare at Derek.

"It is okay Sarah," Cameron said quietly to Sarah, looking like she wanted to contain the anger in the home "His reaction was better than I had anticipated, at least he kept the verbal anger to a minimum."

Cameron's strange optimism caught everyone off guard, even Derek, who seemed unable to hold the glare he was throwing at the girl. Sarah's lips twitched, biting back a sudden bout of anger. "Come on Cameron," Sarah called out to the suddenly detached girl, as if wanting her catch her attention before something bad happened between Cameron and Derek. Sorry we couldn't stay longer Kacy."

"Yes, goodbye Kacy Cotton," Cameron said next as she stood from her seat. "Do not worry," Cameron paused and added, "Derek Reese has treated me far worst then this."

Cameron forced a fake smile as she waved to Kacy and followed Sarah out of the house. Kacy sighed as she looked over to Derek, who had gone from a stubborn uncompromising expression down to that of someone who seemed to genuinely regret his slip of the tongue.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Derek said, a lighter voice, clearly not wanting to talk about what was wrong in the house. Derek rubbed his bandaged hand unconsciously. The damage must have been from Cameron, Kacy realized, but even if that was the case and Cameron did hurt him, it didn't give him the right to verbally assault the clearly unstable girl.

As Kacy heard the truck outside come to life and pull out of the driveway less than a second later, Kacy turned Derek, unable to contain her anger for the man. "You've treated her worse than THIS!" Kacy screamed at him at the top of her lungs. Derek flinched at the powerful noise and stood, taking his plate with him.

"Don't even start with me," Derek muttered as he set the plate back onto the counter. He looked like he was revolted from the food he had previously enjoyed before finding out who had made it. Kacy watched his hands tighten around the edge as he focused his gaze out the window.

"That is a sweet young lady that's living with you," Kacy chastised him, not even bothering to listen to his warning "I don't know what your problem is with her but you better stop for her sake, she's hurting inside and you seem to want to do dick all to help her!"

"Kacy, you don't want to play this game." Derek warned her in a lower tone.

"Try me," She challenged the man, "you've just pissed off a pregnant woman so you BETTER start talking to me."

"What do you want to hear?" He roared out loud to Kacy in return, "that I'm a bastard to her? That I KNOW she doesn't deserve it, yet I continue to hate her for existing?"

"Why would you?" Kacy squeaked out, her confidence waning from the rage Reese seemed to possess. Derek softened his look and looked tiredly at her, as if worn out from an argument that he must have had many times before.

"Why?" He reiterated, "I knew her mother that's way, and then..._she_ happened and now her mom's not here anymore. Instead I've got some knockoff of the real thing living under this roof."

"A knockoff!" Kacy huffed incredulously for the statement. Derek groaned and bowed his head to hide his face the best he could from the clearly enraged hormonal woman.

"Yeah I'm done with this conversation Kacy, are we done now?" He told her with a forced politeness to his voice.

"WE MOST CERTAINLY ARE NOT!" She cried out to him. "Cameron isn't her mother, from what Sarah told me, she never had a chance to know her so how you could ever even think of her as a cheap knockoff!"

If Derek had an answer, he sure as hell wasn't about to tell her.

"You better listen to me Derek," Kacy said softly, deciding to give Derek a much more sympathetic voice then she had been giving him, "Cameron may not be real family to you, but Sarah and John obviously care for her. Do you care for them?"

"Yes." He whispered to her agreement , her turned back to her, his expression full of regret. Kacy sighed and shook her head.

"Then you better treat Cameron better because if you continue to treat her like some leper than all you'll be doing is isolating yourself from them more than her." She said seriously, "Because Cameron will still have at least two people who care for her, unlike yourself who's quickly losing them."

Derek looked back to her after a moment of serious personal reflection. He tried to smile to her but failed. Derek exhaled finally and sat down into the chair next to her. His mask fell, reveling the sight of a man broken up.

"Help me Kacy," He uttered, looking unable to believe what he was saying. "I don't want to lose them, not over that...girl."

Kacy looked at him carefully, judging him to find any falseness in what he was asking for. Finding nothing that told her that Derek was being insincere, she nodded in agreement to Derek's request. If she could help the Baums in this small way, she would be glad to help.

* * *

Catherine Weaver sat in her Lexus. The machine's sole focus was on her BlackBerry dictating various commands out to her assistant just in case she was late on returning back to the office. It was rare for the machine to be a break. But this was an important one. For the thirteenth time Weaver looked up through her rear view mirror looking for Connor and Cameron. This time however she immediately recognized Sarah and Cameron heading towards the restaurant. Catherine exited the vehicle, and made her place by her Lexus, carefully waiting for her guest to catch up with her.

"Sarah, Cameron, nice of you both to be punctual." Catherine welcomed the human and the machine warmly.

Cameron smiled brightly and walked a little swifter then Sarah. She met up with Weaver and placed her arms around the other machine. The affectionate reaction made Catherine uncomfortable for a moment.

"Tell me dear how you are feeling." Catherine inquired, holding the cyborg back for closer inspection.

"I am feeling very good Catherine," Cameron returned positively, the slight smile Cameron had on her lips never leaving once, "thank you for the concern." Weaver nodded, the machine was in a far better mood then she had ever seen her before.

"And Sarah, I trust you are in a better mood then you were earlier?" The CEO added to the mother knowingly, Sarah nodded her head, her lips tightened with the memory.

"Yeah I am," Sarah admitted to Catherine but pointedly turned to Cameron and added "but I am still not impressed right Cameron?"

"Yes Sarah," Cameron returned softly, she turned her attention back to Catherine and added, "My recent activities with John are not appreciated by Sarah, Catherine Weaver. Could you inform Sarah that this is a natural progression of our relationship?"

Catherine looked over her shoulder to glance at the girl kindly as she opened the door for the Cameron and Sarah.

"I am certain that Sarah knows that Cameron," Catherine said with a slightly amused demeanor, "However Sarah Connor has every right to an opposing view. While you may not agree with Sarah's view on the more physical aspects of your relationship with John ,you must respect it, just as Sarah will respect your opinion as well."

As the three of them stopped to wait for someone to take them to their table, Catherine turned and pointedly stared the human. Sarah looked back and with a thin humorless smile, she nodded in agreement.

The machines and the human fell silent as one of the waitresses approached them and gestured them to accompany her to the private room Catherine had booked ahead of time. As they passed through the room, Catherine observed several of her executives talking quietly amongst themselves.

One of them looked up briefly and caught the cold gaze Of Catherine Weaver, he smiled weakly and looked back down to the crowd, telling them passively that their boss was now once again in their presence. Sarah looked over to where Catherine was staring as well.

"My underlings are surprised by my presence." Catherine mused simply to Sarah as she turned away from her employees.

They made their way to the back of the restaurant, the server opening the door and allowed them access to the private room, intended for those willing to pay a higher price for a better dining experience, already sitting there were three glasses of wine waiting for them. The Server informed the three of them that the meal was already prepared and would be served soon so Weaver waved the woman away so that they could have their privacy.

"You know Cameron," Catherine said conversationally as she took a seat at the table, "judging by John's behavior on Friday night he was ready to fight me solo just to protect you." With a slight smile she added "He was very disturbed don't you recall Sarah?"

"Pretty scary.' Sarah agreed with her softly.

Cameron said nothing as she thought about the irrational behavior she did not have a chance to witness firsthand. She found herself wanting to have though. The concept of John protecting her from a friendly T-1001, despite there being no danger. Cameron smiled to herself, John would protect her from even the smallest of threats.

"Did you know that I lied to him?" she said turning her look to Sarah. Sarah narrowed eyes at Weavers unexpected revelation. Before neither of the women could shout at Catherine, she held her hand up asking wordlessly for patience.

"You were at stake Cameron," Weaver said to the sudden demanding look Cameron had in her eyes, "I was not about to put you in to the hands of an overtly emotional and under qualified organic life form. That would not be wise, so I heated up my nanobots enough to give the impression that it would be dangerous for John to handle."

Cameron nodded at what Weaver had to do, John had gotten lucky the first time around, it was best that Weaver lied even if lies were an act no one, not even Catherine Weaver should have been doing. Impulsively Cameron lifted her phone back to tell Her John about the lie.

"Why don't you text John my apologies." Catherine stated as she left her glass of wine and sipped it needlessly, slightly annoyed that Cameron was so wrapped up in communicating with John while they were waiting for the server to come back with the food.

Cameron blinked and lowered her mobile, lowly saying "my apologies Catherine, I have found that text messaging John to be quite an enthralling game to play with hi-"

The door burst open, earning three alarmed stares. As it turned was only several server's bringing in a variety of dishes for them to sample including what looked like a small dish of Caviar. Sarah tilted her as all the strange and overly expensive food was lowered onto the table.

As the servers left, Catherine set down her glass of wine and with a slightly kind tone said "I have a proposal for you Miss Connor." Sarah did not answer right away, instead trying to figure what her stomach could handle.

"What is it." she said distractedly.

"Cameron's inhibitions are coming to an end," Weaver said gazing over to Cameron as she watched Cameron lift her own glass of wine and sniffed as if she thought it was poison, "while her descent can be relatively controlled, her first stage won't be, I will need to be on call at all times, but with my continued work we will have a possible conflict of priorities."

Cameron winced bitterly as she sipped her wine finally and set it down quickly, looking determined to never touch the drink ever again.

"Savannah has been pestering me for some sort of summer getaway." Catherine continued, maintaining her neutral voice "So I have been looking for a nice summer home out in Northern Montana, she seemed to show a peculiar enthusiasm for the Rocky Mountains."

"Therefore I would like to invite the four of you to come along with us." The T-1001 finished, an inviting smile present, "It will mean that I could be close when Cameron begins to enter her first stage."

Catherine watched as Cameron smiled slightly at the prospect of spending summer with her friends, It would be a chance to get to spend more time with John out of the house with the comfort of knowing there would be a reduction in the number of terminators waiting for them in a less populated state.

"Four of us?" Sarah questioned her carefully "You mean Derek as well?"

"If he wishes too," Weaver allowed as she murmured a polite thanks to the waitress who had came in swiftly and set her personal plate down in front of her, "bringing him along will give me the perfect opportunity to get to know this...troubled individual."

"Are you attracted to him?" Sarah suddenly blurted out. Cameron snapped her head up and looked at Sarah's sudden query.

"I beg your pardon?" Catherine whispered, her intelligence center not detecting an immediate answer to the charge Sarah had made.

"Sarah believes you are sexually attracted to him." Cameron pointed out the obvious for Catherine's sake. Sarah shot the girl a slight glare and nodded her head in reluctant agreement.

"I'm most certainly not Cameron," Catherine sharply replied, with a seconds respite in order to realign her speech pattern, she added "I need to gain his trust, but if I reveal to him of my true identity he will most certainly clam up and see me as a new enemy rather than a potential new friend."

"He's gonna try to sleep with you." Sarah pointed out to the machine. Weaver thought about it briefly, engaging in sexual activity was not something she did, ever. Oh well, sometimes sacrifices must be made, even by her.

"I know," Catherine agreed finally, "I might just allow it."

Silence at the table at each of the present company fell into personal thoughts. Cameron looked up suddenly her lips twitched and out of nowhere Cameron giggled. Catherine looked at the strange sound. The cyborg didn't even attempt to hide the sound, it continued, slowly gathering strength until finally the giggle turned into a full blown, partially awkward laugh. After a moment of staring at the strange laughter, Sarah to, begun to laugh as well. Catherine did not join in, not exactly finding the humor in talking about manipulating Derek Reese.

"So you want us to move?" Sarah said as she ended her slight laughter. Catherine nodded her head and briefly glanced at Cameron, who was now text messaging John once again. Sarah sighed to herself, knowing Catherine's implications.

"Cameron," She called out to the girl, catching Cameron's immediate attention, "Going with the Weavers isn't my decision to make. This one is up to you to choose."

Cameron's eyes widened at the request; she had never been allowed to take charge over something as big as this. She looked from both Sarah to Catherine who were both waiting for an answer. Cameron turned her head upwards, wondering to herself what John would like to do. Cameron quickly determined that this would not be what John would have wanted from her, he would rather her make a decision on her own accord.

"I would like to go up north if it is acceptable with you." Cameron finally said, looking to Sarah for her own personal approval.

"Okay," Sarah said nodding her head, deciding that Cameron would probably not want to request anything without her approval, she turned back to Catherine Weaver and added "When do we leave?"

"Once John is finished his final examination," Catherine allowed as she dipped her spoon in the Caviar in front of her, "does that sound acceptable to you?"

"It sounds acceptable," Cameron snapped out before Sarah could even get a reply, Cameron widened her eyes as she notice the pointed, slightly amused look Sarah gave off and dropped her head as she added embarrassed "I will inform John right now."

"What about Derek?" Sarah decided to continue after Cameron looked up from her new obsession.

"I will find a place with a guest home for him," Catherine decided simply, a small wave of her hand as if it had been but a minor obstacle, "it will keep Mister Reese away from Cameron as much as possible as well give him a chance to recuperate from his... trauma."

Before Catherine could say anymore in regards to the Reese dilemma, Her BlackBerry vibrated inside her purse. She frowned slightly to herself as she reached in to retrieve the phone. It must have been important enough to have Lauren decide that interrupting her lunch was the best course.

"No," Catherine whispered to herself, her expression malevolent as she held her look on the BlackBerry, "this isn't happening. I adamantly told her not to tell him where I was." Of course in her irritation, Catherine did not notice that Cameron and Sarah had turned to each other, confusion setting in from Catherine Weaver's strange musings.

"Hello Miss Anderson. What happened?" She demanded through the phone, "I thought I had specifically told you to have him wait there." Cameron and Sarah looked to each other, not sure exactly of what to make of The T-1001's Strange anger they were witnessing for the first time.

"What do you mean he found out you foolish girl?" Catherine hissed over the phone as she stood up from her seat to pace back and forth, "I will make this simple for you to comprehend, did you tell him?"

"You didn't?" Weaver whispered to herself, "Than who did Miss Anderson?"Sarah found herself feeling very sorry for the poor assistant to the other end of the phone.

"The receptionist?" She cried incredulously, "the Receptionist?"

Sarah could have sworn that the usually unflappable Catherine Weaver actually growled as the assistant on the other end said something inaudible to Sarah. Cameron placed her hand onto the back of her neck, worried that her teacher may turn around and attack because of her shifted mood.

"Tell her she's been Fired." Catherine stated simply to the assistant.

"You heard me Miss Anderson, fire her... FIRE HER!" Catherine screamed abruptly with so much rage that it made Sarah and unsurprisingly Cameron jump in their seats from the pure anger in Catherine's voice, "Get her out of my company. Go to the payroll department, get her final paycheck and get her out of my building!"

_"Resistance?"_ Catherine asked viciously, sounding like she was unable to believe she could be hearing. "Take security down there and remove her with force... No I do not care about a possible lawsuit," She snapped, "Give her the number of my lawyer, I challenge her to do so."

Catherine paused her rage, looking like she was trying to calm herself down from her suddenly poor behavior. After a moment of silence Catherine look back up, her glare lightened only slightly.

"It's too late Miss Anderson he's conversing with my executives." Catherine sighed to her assistant as she peaked out the door, "I apologize for my anger, this was not your fault so I thank you for informing of the situation, albeit too late."

Catherine softly sighed once more as she ended the call and pushed herself into the chair she had been hitting at her elbows rested on the table as she placed fingers over her temple as if she had a stress migraine.

The door opened before Cameron could ask if Catherine had been alright. She looked up, in the doorway stood a rigid middle aged man, dressed in an immaculate United States Air Force uniform. His stern image only hardened once Catherine looked up to her him, an awful look spread on her usually impassive face.

"Catherine Weaver?" Cameron asked carefully, not sure what to do, Sarah on the other hand dropped her hand, unconsciously freeing her Handgun from its holster as she continued to glare daggers at the man in front of her. Her mouth went dry as she felt the

"General Robert Brewster." Catherine breathed back to Cameron and Sarah Connor, clearly not enjoying the sight of a disgruntled looking lieutenant General looking back at her, "I would welcome you, but I am afraid that it would not be very sincere."

The General frowned as his eyes looked at the occupants of the room. He stepped forward slowly, walking over to Weaver so that he could observe every detail the CEO had.

"Catherine, I'd apologize for disturbing your friendly little get together, but you and I have unattended personal business." Brewster stated commandingly, not noticing that now Cameron had unhinged her own holster as well.

"I think I'm going to sit down so we can have this little discussion right now, What do you say Weaver?" The General wondered aloud, his eyes only on the redhead as she looked at him without a trace of emotion in her.

"Delightful," Catherine returned to Brewster, a mocking tone evident in her voice "I think that my friends here are going to enjoy this little talk."


	22. Confrontations

**Chapter Twenty Two: Confrontations**

**

* * *

**

"Tell me General Brewster," Catherine asked the Air Force officer with a slightly curious assessment, "What do you hope to accomplish here today? I was under the distinct impression that I informed you on more than a single occasion that I have no intentions of aiding you."

The General remained silent, all three of the woman in the room judging the man carefully. He didn't hear the click of Sarah's gun as she cocked the hammer back. There was a look in Sarah's eyes, a sudden fervid look, a murderous stare that told both Catherine and Cameron that she was a second away from killing this man for his unknowing future role in the genocide of humanity.

Cameron bent slightly and discreetly placed her hand on Sarah's lap, the movement clearly meant to get the enraged woman back under self control. Sarah turned her eyes to Cameron and watched the TOK unit's mouth twitch slightly, it's subtle message clear: No Violence. Sarah closed her eyes and nodded curtly. She released the hammer, choosing to give the man a chance, but only one.

"Please, since you have already disturb my luncheon here with my guests why don't you take a seat? I dare say you may need one." Weaver requested, her hand gesturing vaguely to one of the unoccupied chairs around the table. Brewster eyed Catherine's guests suspiciously. He hadn't anticipated two other women, both looking at him as if he was a leper, there with the only intention of spreading disease.

"This is a private matter ma'am, miss, could you excuse yourselves? I apologize for the inconvenience that this may cause the two of you." Brewster finally requested aloud, addressing Sarah and Cameron. His words came out as a direct order, as if the two women were under his command.

"We're not going anywhere, so save it." Sarah snarled back, she slipped her handgun back into her holster and crossed her arms, leaning back into her chair confidently. Weaver looked over to Sarah, allowing her a small commending smile for the woman's sheer audacity.

Before the General could respond to the anger in Sarah's retort, Catherine released a short cough, stating, "I think what my friend is trying to say is that their presence will not be swayed by your...influence."

Brewster looked from Weaver's clearly false look of kindness to the one called Sarah before finally ending on the unidentified young lady of the group. The look that the girl had was the worse of the three, an endless emotionless stare, as if she was reading all of his secrets with ease.

"You know one of my newest head researchers has informed me of the several offers you have made in an attempt to entice her with," Catherine said breaking Brewster from his uneasiness. "Are you really not that interested in making a deal with Kaliba Group that you would attempt to poach my employees?"

"You're not concern about losing her?" Brewster asked as he pulled a seat between Weaver and Sarah. Doing his best not look into the younger girl's continuous empty stare. Catherine merely smiled.

"Doctor Serena Kogan has confided to me every time an offer was made for her employment." Catherine returned politely as she dipped the caviar spoon to the dish and spread the black caviar on to a bland cracker. As she rose the expensive subsistence her mouth, she paused, adding "Her loyalty to myself is unyielding Brewster, after what you did to her could you blame the woman?"

She fell silent, daintily eating the overpriced sturgeon eggs. As she allowed the General to stew in her very mysterious words. She turned her attention over to Cameron who had been watching her eat very intently.

"Cameron dear, would you care to try the Caviar? I believe you might just find it an absolute delight to your taste buds." Weaver suggested to the girl on her right, lifting the spoon from out of the dish and handed to her. Cameron looked at the utensil and took it, coping the liquid terminator actions.

Sarah watched Weaver as she briefly taught Cameron the intricacies and customs of fine dining. But it seemed to her that Catherine Weaver's mind was elsewhere. The machine's expression became hard, unfathomable. It was almost as if she was purposely leaving Brewster hanging.

"To buy up what was left of Cyberdyne Systems and steal all of her special projects, from a terminally ill woman no less?" Weaver suddenly said, chastising Robert, her lips had formed a haunting smile focused squarely on him, the redhead added, "Such compassion you have demonstrated."

The name Cyberdyne perked Sarah's interest even higher than it had been. Weaver and Brewster had been poaching researchers and harvesting what was left of the company for their own gain. It was almost understandable what Weaver was doing. But the General? Sarah looked over to Weaver, who had been playing with her salad with the correct fork.

"She was at the verge of a painful cancer ridden death when I found her, poor woman was very content on dying alone in her home needlessly." She said, turning her attention over to Sarah briefly before looking back to Robert Brewster, "Years upon years of...vigorous treatments has seen Serena Kogan to become potentially one my, more worthwhile assets."

Catherine Weaver lowered her fork softly down on to her plate. As the liquid metal did so, she leaned in towards Brewster, a clever smile slowly spreading over her cold exterior.

"Between you and I and my friends here, she despises you for what you did to her." With a humorless chuckle she added "Such a shame too, you lost a valuable resource due to your callousness."

"But I digress," She continued getting back to the subject at hand, "How has your Kaliba Group experience working out for you? A very ambitious collection of contractors correct?"

Brewster hacked a cough at Weavers remark, "I don't trust them Weaver." The General murmured to her with shake of his head, "They're far too eager to do this especially when every other tech firm in the country that we have approached has shown hesitation with the sheer magnitude in the undertaking of this project." Robert paused and shot Weaver pointed look, "Zeira Corporation is the only group in the country to object at the morality behind this project."

"Not morality general, common sense." Catherine disagreed courteously.

"Whatever," Brewster snapped not caring for her excuse. "Then there's Kaliba Group, a group of _foreigners_ and _mercenary scientists_." The General snorted slightly at the concept of a mercenary scientists, "Not only do they want to do this project but have even handed us a timetable within two hours of our contacting them, claiming the project will be complete by early 2011. It's far too ambitious for my taste."

"Catherine, I'm here asking you to reconsider," The general admitted to the room. "We will do everything that you want, every concession, every condition you make we will abide. Full cooperation Catherine," The man promised the CEO. "Your corporation has shown a consistent diligence and a long standing relationship with nearly every branch of the United States Government, but now you show hesitation, noncompliance. After all your continued business with us, why stop now?"

"I haven't General," Catherine disagreed with a polite nod, "I will continue to work with the government. After all, that is what I am well compensated for, that is what I intend on continuing with." Catherine paused, and with a brief look to Sarah added, "I will however refused a continued relationship with your branch of the military if you continue to seek this project."

"Listen to me Catherine I know how you work: Greed," Brewster argued defiantly, "working for the Air Force on this projec-"

"Mister Brewster," Catherine snapped coldly, narrowing her eyes at the glorified public servant, "I have tried to be nice to you, I have been patient far more than you can even begin to imagine, despite your pestering, despite your threats against my company." Catherine paused to relater herself, after nearly a minute of silence she finally looked up and added, "Well, I believe that it is time I issue a small threat of my own."

"If you continue push your weight around, I will discontinue all my work for the government and shift all of my focus to Foreign Powers." She announced with a cold smile, "Russia, China even the European Union, all have expressed interest in what I have to offer them." Ignoring his protesting look she added. "I am certain that various government agency that directly benefit from my work will not be pleased at you for angering me."

"There is only a single way you will get this project off the ground, and I am afraid that it is by using your Kaliba Group substitute." Catherine finished with a much kinder look than before, "I wish you luck."

The way Catherine spoke it was a clear indication, an invitation for the General to leave. This conversation was clearly over. Cameron knew it, Sarah knew it. Brewster, however didn't know it. He shook his head repeatedly, not believing what was happening.

"We're not done here Weaver, not until I get what I want." He demanded, his tone rough and unforgiving. Catherine merely stared at the man, almost amused at his insolence.

"How is Katherine doing Robert?" Weaver asked, completely shifting the conversation from the original topic. If Brewster could get more sullen, he did. The topic of his estranged daughter touching a nerve.

"What's your interest in her?" he finally asked the machine guardedly.

"A mild curiosity General Brewster," Catherine called back tasting her wine with a slight smirk, "A gifted girl who's rebellion against her distant father cost her a career as a proper physician. Tell me General have you followed my advice? Have you gone to make your amends?"

Sarah looked apprehensively from the rage in the Generals expression and then over to Catherine. The machine leaned in, never blinking once, never showing a sign of compromise. As the time continued to pass by without an answer. It only served as an instigator for Weaver, slowly the smile that told the world that she was right returned to her.

With a shake of her head and a slight, cold laugh, Weaver asked "Have you even called her?"

Still the General remained silent. Not out of defiance, but out of regret. Weaver had been correct about him. He had been a stubborn man when it came to his little girl. After he and his wife's divorce it had got tense between himself and Katie. The last thing that had snapped was her decision to quit medical school after seven years of training. That nearly six years ago now and still, not one word to one another.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice?" The T-1001 wondered aloud, the cold words intended for the General, finally breaking the tense silence in the dining room.

"Notice what?" he asked looking back to her. Catherine Weaver merely maintained her unblinking stare at the man's sudden ignorance.

"The surveillance the men in dark cars parked outside my daughter's private school have been doing for the past week?" Weaver asked, the thin crevice of her lips forming a menacing smile. "Well Robert, I've done a little counter surveillance myself." Catherine suddenly admitted to him "Several of these men are former Delta Force operatives now employed for a little company known as Blackwater Worldwide."

"What are you talking about-"

"Don't you _dare_ be coy with me General." Catherine suddenly hissed at Robert Brewster, "You have once before threatened to abduct my daughter, so tell me, what do you have planned?"

Cameron's expressionless features turned to look down at her plate. Quickly she determined that this must have been why Catherine Weaver seemed stressed to the point that she'd fire an employee out of pure irritation. Her children were in danger from people who'd use the little girl to get her to comply to his demands.

"An observation for you to consider," the uncharacteristically angered mother terminator quickly said before anyone could speak up. "Hiring Private Military Contractors is an ambiguous decision that could easily turn on you. I would hate to have something horrible occur to that lovely daughter of yours."

"Catherine listen to me, I have never once ordered such a thing." The now worried father stated, knowing full well of the implications the vengeful woman had been making.

Catherine looked over to Cameron. Both of them silently agreeing that judging solely on the reaction. General Robert Brewster had been telling the truth. This man had no idea that is had been going on. Someone else was playing with fire and using Brewster as a shield to hide behind.

"Even if you hadn't General, my observation still stands." Weaver returned after clearing her personal speculations, "I suggest you get to the bottom of this matter as soon as possible."

"I will make my leave," Robert concluded, deciding he'd rather be somewhere else, "I will get to the bottom of this Catherine." He promised her, pausing briefly before adding "I'm sorry that we don't see eye to eye on building this project."

"My friends here know about the project, there was no need to conceal anything." She gestured to both Cameron and Sarah before adding, "Be sure to see to my problem Robert Brewster. I certainly would not want this matter to spill into your personal life as well."

Brewster nodded and stood up, Silent as he headed down to the exit.

"And for Katherine's sake, go and see your daughter. You both must have a lot to catch up on." Catherine suddenly called out the man as he opened the door to leave. The General paused as if contemplating the idea giving to him by the woman.

"I think I will." he muttered to himself, not knowing Catherine and Cameron heard his words.

As the door closed behind the General, Weaver turned away, looking clearly agitated. Sarah turned her look to the liquid metal, wondering to herself everything that had just occurred. From Catherine's miraculous healing of a dying woman to an ambitiously suspicious technology group, and a very strange interest in Katherine Brewster, for which she had disguised as threats to the girl's safety.

The T-1001 sitting opposite to her was the kind of machine that Sarah had never thought could have the feelings it had shown today. Cameron sure, she could understand the possibility of her having developing emotions, but a machine that was basically built from trillions of near microscopic machines? What made that possible? How in the hell _did_ those trillions of Nanobots work together to give Catherine Weaver her consciousness?

The question was too difficult to figure out. Sarah was a smart woman in many regards. But questions regarding a technology that was mostly theory by modern day's standards made her head pound as she tried to figure it out.

"Catherine are you okay?" Cameron spoke uncertainly, catching Sarah by surprise. The cyborg was right to ask. The machine looked back to them expressionless for a reason, visibly reminding Sarah of the night that Cameron had crashed and Weaver fell into a few strange moments of personal reflection. After a second more of self deliberation, Weaver looked up to the source of the query and shook her head in denial.

"I'll be fine Cameron, Sarah Connor, I suppose now you know the reason why John Henry has found residence in my home." Catherine spoke up finally, her voice aloof and cold. After a moment more of silence, Weaver added, "Now you know the real reason why I am taking my daughter north."

* * *

Things quieted down after the Brewster meeting, leaving Sarah with many unanswered questions. These questions however fell to the sideline as she noticed that something just as mysterious came up after the meeting.

Cameron had gone quiet again. She suddenly seemed to take no real interest in the world around her. Her personality seemed to have shifted from her new, inexplicably lively one, to that of her original one. The simple expression and the faraway look. It wasn't that she had been moody as she and John had witnessed on the days that led up to her breakdown, no, to her it was more like Cameron just did not care anymore. It was like she had just stopped developing and instead she was retracting back inside herself.

Even John had seemed to notice. He had confided in her that Cameron's shift in emotional reaction had even reached him. Thankfully for her, without using too much detail he told her that a lot of the affection she had shown to him over the previous few days had disappeared. She had told him that she was trying to initiate some sort of it was something she was finding difficult to do.

What had changed in her over the course of a few hours? Sarah wasn't sure herself. But if anyone could have figured it out it would be John. John loved her despite the sudden cold front the Cybernetic Organism was showing to the family.

John had came to the conclusion that maybe she was not enjoying being cooped up in the house. Sarah knew better, John was still thinking of Cameron's developments towards a more human existence as the standard, as ongoing and never slowing down.

There was a reason Sarah knew better. In her haste she made an unplanned phone call to Catherine Weaver about what she had witnessed the very moment her aloof behavior begun. She was scared that it may have been a sign that she was reverting back in to herself or worse, on the verge of violence.

Weaver listened to the concern with her usual amount of patience after Sarah finished her concern for the machine. Catherine carefully explained to the human that this was it. Cameron had reached the proverbial calm before the storm. It was the final stretch before her situation deteriorated into her first stage.

Melancholia. Apathy, depression, thoughts of worthlessness would be overwhelming her rational thought process within days, potentially a week at the most. This wasn't the only thing that made her worried. It was the stage that preceded it that scared Sarah the most. From what Catherine described of the Anger stage, it made Sarah toss and turn in her sleep at night.

At least one thing ran smoother than usual. Derek Reese. Something had been different about his behavior. While yes, he maintained his high level of distrust for the cyborg, he no longer tried to bait her. In fact he stayed way the hell away from her whenever possible.

What had really changed was his personal behavior around her and John. He was sober, he had kinder words to say and whenever Cameron wasn't around he even cracked a dry joke or two.

It was Friday afternoon now, the moment John had gotten home he got changed, and managed to convince the stoic terminator that they should go out and do something together. Cameron had been stubborn about allowing the outing, citing a dozen of distinct possible threats against them.

Normally Sarah was inclined to agree with John's protector, she was usually right about possible dangers against mankind's savior. But John seemed to be excited with the prospect of getting out of the house and breaking the routine that he was following. Despite this desire, Cameron wasn't going to have any of this. She just did not want to risk him anymore than he already was every time he went to school solo.

So after a forty five minute one sided conversation involving Cameron continuous threat assessments. John finally announced that he was borrowing Derek's bike and going by himself, stating that he was willing to take a rider along with him. His request caused Cameron to brake her resolve and agreed to leave with him. Better she went along than John going by himself.

It was strange Sarah was even allowing this to occur. Perhaps it was the guilt of knowing just how close judgment day was, perhaps it had been the knowledge that she never really allowed him to do much of anything on his own accord. So now Cameron and John were off on some sort of adventure together, leaving a very worried mother behind. But at least it was good to know that John was in good hands.

* * *

This had been a pointless venture Cameron concluded to herself.

Cameron didn't really want to do anything with him, no restaurants, no movies, and no activities to speak of. She didn't even wish to be out there that afternoon. The idea of both her and John walking casually around the streets of Los Angeles was not recommended, yet John told her that it would be perfectly fine at least for the time being.

Since early Thursday morning Sarah seemed to have been concerned for her, her friend was justified, not that Cameron was willing to admit it. She had been happy only a few days ago, she was excited to experiment with her growing sense of self. But now she just did not want anything to do with it. Even her affection for John Connor seemed to have been compromised.

Fortunately for her, John Connor did not seem to mind her neutral personality change, if anything he tried his best to get her to open up to him. Such patience was commendable to Cameron, but she was far too preoccupied with a single thought that had been on her mind since meeting General Robert Brewster.

His daughter, Katherine Brewster.

She had a file pertaining to top staff in John Connor's Resistance. She was there, listed amongst the men and women who served under him. Full personal reports on each of the individuals aiding John in his war against the machines. All of the files were untouched. All except for her. Katherine Brewster's files had been limited to that of a Pre-Judgment file and her Combat Service Record. Nothing else, it was like it had been locked away from her. Which had been strange, usually she had full access to all her files. What made Brewster so special?

Cameron turned her eyes over to John who had been leading her to some sort of ethnic stall filled with Small trinkets from the South American continent. He had been adamantly talking about the few details which he had managed to have a relative normal life just prior to their first encounter in 1999.

While she knew of Charlie Dixon previous relationship with Sarah Connor, she was uninformed about the extent of how close to a proper family John could have had. A stepfather who seemed to have cared for him and not know about the future. Such a concept would be fanciful, yet impossible Cameron concluded. Sarah Connor was not a woman who could settle in one place and live an atypical existence. Especially not with the extensive criminal record she was attempting to hide.

"John, may I ask you a question?" Cameron suddenly called out cutting John from his talk. John looked up and nodded politely, giving the quiet cyborg a chance speak.

"Remember our conversation about Robert Brewster?" Cameron inquired from him. John nodded as he thought about it.

"Yeah, Weaver handed him his ass right?" He said back to with a slight look of amusement to the incident that Sarah and Cameron had told him all about.

"Do you have any knowledge of a Katherine Brewster?"

John squinted his look at Cameron, not sure of what to make of the question she was asking. Silently John racked his brain for the answer. He had no known memories of a Katherine Brewster that he could tell her about.

"Not that I know of Cam, Why?" John finally said to her with a slight frown as he continued to think about it.

"Katherine Brewster is a member of your inner circle," Cameron explained to John as she watched him set down a trinket and lead her away from the stall so that they could speak in relative silence. "In the original timeline her father's position helps provide you communication to organize the beginning of the resistance."

"Sounds like she's important hey?" John mused as he thought of the information Cameron had been supplying him.

"She is John, with Judgment day delayed, her role in the future has been compromised." Cameron whispered in agreement as they passed by a few young adult talking loudly to each other, "we may need her with us in the near future."

John looked over to Cameron and smiled as he noticed that Cameron's impassive feature twitched slightly, for the first time since Wednesday she actually showed a hint of her friendly side, after a moment of silence he spoke up saying, "Is that why you've been so distant?"

Cameron looked up and met his eyes. John's smile was weak in appearance. His admirable attempts at opening her up needed to be addressed. Cameron stopped walking and pulled the human close to her. With a tilt of her head she leaned in and kissed him with a slight hesitation to break it.

"No John," Cameron denied as she let go of his lips and smiled awkwardly at him. "I am uncertain as to why I am unable to recall a majority of her record, I have never had a need nor curiosity to look her up. I am not sure if this information hasn't been with me since I had been reprogrammed, or perhaps the Sarkissian explosion had been the cause."

"What about Weaver?" John decided to question her.

Cameron looked up from her own question and blinked her eyes at the odd hypothesis so John tacked on "Weaver was messing around in your mind for three whole days, you think she could have done something to you?"

Cameron tilted her head slightly after a moment of serious deliberation, she shook her head swiftly and said "Very unlikely, Catherine Weaver brought me back from the brink of an early Rampancy, why would she do that to me?" The cyborg looked into John's eyes, his expression reading that he had been serious with the thought. His look gave Cameron pause, John's theory begun to slowly make more and more sense. Catherine Weaver and John Henry could have easily altered her during her three day hiatus.

"Do you think Catherine would do that to my neural net processor while in her custody?" She asked John as her eyes darted across his facial features. "Do you think she would mess around with my log files, my archived memories?"For the first time since Wednesday she actually had an emotional reaction present. While it was good to know she still had them, John would much rather it something other than worry or fear.

"I don't know Cameron," John murmured back to the cybernetic organism as he tightened his hold on to her hand, "Weaver might have, when you came back to me, you were calm, curious, you were not at all like you were a few days before you crashed."

Cameron nodded, John had been correct in his assessment on her personality shift. While kinder behavior was better than the cluttered mess her mind had been in. It still had not been normal behavior for her. As she thought about it, she actually kind of missed it. The safety a machine personality had. Her teacher was right, being controlled by a force greater than herself was so much more easier an existence.

"What about Allison," John decided to inquire from her, "Do you remember what you did to her?" Connor trailed off as he saw that Cameron had narrowed her eyes at him as she heard the query. Nonetheless Cameron dropped her attention to herself, carefully scanning her memory archives.

_Accessing memory archive...Standby_

_Access granted TOK-715...type in search field_

_File Search: __Allison Young, Termination_

_Accessing... Five files located in memory archive pertaining to Allison Young, Termination...Retrieving..._

_Files Retrieved, listing..._

_1/ Notes on Template 715 (Allison Young)... 2/ Combat Service Record of Template 715 (Allison Young) _

_3/ DNA structure for Template 715 (Allison Young)... 4/ Interrogation Records of Template 715 (Allison Young)_

_5/ Termination of Template 715 (Allison Young)_

She didn't need anything but termination at this point, quickly she initiated the final choice and watched as her HUD lit up as it processed the request.

_Accessing Termination of Template 715...Standby..._

_ACCESS DENIED...Please insert Encryption Code: Zulu Charley class encryption code required for full access to File .._

Quickly Cameron brought up every encryption code she had, all had been present except the code she had needed. This lack of code only strengthened John's theory that Catherine Weaver had tampered with her mind while she was being repaired.

"No," Cameron said looking back up in worry, "while I know of the incident second hand by Derek Reese's admissions. My archive of the incidents have been locked away with a new encryption code."

"John, maybe it is for the best that this alteration to my memory had happened to me John," Cameron quickly tried to justify before John could reply, "maybe I killed Katherine Brewster in my attempt to get to you. Maybe the thoughts of my more notable...terminations would make myself feel bad, perhaps cause me to feel some kind of guilt for my crimes."

"Maybe Weaver thought she was doing the right thing Cam, but she shouldn't be altering your memories if she did do it." John shot back. They both fell silent as Cameron thought about what John's simple statement. After a moment of reflection she looked back up to John.

"You are correct, I will have to ask Catherine if she had any role in altering my memories," Cameron murmured to him, her HUD still flashing with the access denied message, "if so perhaps she can disengage this third party encryption code."

John nodded slightly, fuming on Cameron's behalf as she on the other hand became impassive again, wondering what exactly Weaver intentions for her had been. Tentatively, Cameron tightened her hold onto John's arm, making his anger sip aside as felt her on him.

"Are you doing any better?" John questioned as he laced his fingers into hers.

"No, but I am glad you are here for me John." Cameron returned with a slight, fond smile for the human who cared for her. The young man who would protect her, even if the role was meant to be in reverse. If she had one word she could accurately describe how she felt, 'Special' would be the word she'd use. Cameron turned him around. Slowly she placed her arms around John's waist and looked up to John and, with a slight hesitation, she kissed him.

"I am sorry I have been so distant for the past 38 hours, Regardless of my distant behavior, I would you to understand that I love you John." Cameron softly trilled to him. John Connor smiled slightly, purposely leaving Cameron hanging for only a moment choosing to tease Cameron for her distant behavior. After a moment or so of giving Cameron the silent treatment John shook his head and smiled coyly at her.

"I just thought I'd tell you that I love you as well." John finally returned. His words made Cameron smile just enough to reveal her teeth. Thankfully for her John returned her kiss and placed his own arms around her. She had missed this affection, why she had gone cold for so long was seemingly pointless now that she was in his arms.

Cameron moved to nuzzle her head into his shoulder, as she did so she paused halfway, she felt her body going solidly rigid in a sudden defensive stance as she peered over John's shoulder. Standing on guard was a police officer whose eyes had been scanning the passersby suspiciously. After a moment of staring at the man Cameron continued walking, ignoring John's concerned whispers.

That was no human in that uniform, it was a Series model 888 stood looking ready to terminate whatever threat a human might pose in the future to its malevolent master.

"We are going home John right now." Cameron stated in a whisper. She scanned the distance to the bike, 150 meter sprint at John's average speed would take 20.18 seconds to get to the bike. If they timed it right they could escape without an incident.

In all likelihood engaging the machine was the mostly likely course of action, what did they have on them to stop such a well armored machine? Besides Cameron's physical strength they had nothing in the way of projectile weapons, Two .45 ACP pistols and a FN P90 concealed in the bike.

"Cameron what the fuck is going on?" John demanded in a rushed whisper, breaking Cameron from her tactical assessment.

"A T-888 disguised as a member of the LAPD," Cameron quietly said to him, walking at a quicker pace, "The machine has not spotted us yet it is only matter of time before it does however, act inconspicuous John, we got to get to the bik-"

It was too late, the third time that Cameron turned her eyes to the machine he was no longer standing there. It had spotted John, it spotted Skynet's number one threat.

"We've been detected." Cameron stated, her tone ominous. At a brisker pace Cameron drug John quicker along. They were nearly there, nearly at the bike. The T-888 noticed the running pattern and ran as well running with all the speed it had at the human and it's protector.

"John, Run!" Cameron brashly stated to him, pushing him repeatedly in the direction of the bike. They had to get out of there. Fast.

* * *

"John, Run!

He couldn't have agreed more as he and Cameron pushed their way through the crowd, doing their best to evade the machine stalking them. The fake Cop quickened it's pace, shoving people out of the way as it rushed after its targets. It didn't pause as it pulled it's Beretta nine millimeter from its holster, trying to get a shot at them as they both zigzagged through the crowd.

They had to find cover quickly John knew, they had to regroup and get a plan together to evade or destroy the machine. They couldn't outrun it forever.

"Behind here Cam!" He cried as he pointed to a random car parked in front of them and took cover on the other side. Cameron nodded to herself as she followed him, jumping on to the hood in order to get to the other side.

Cameron raised her head to determine where the T-888 was. She saw the machine immediately, it's Beretta raised and leveled at her head. The T-888 fired a quick burst at her, causing the crowd to scream in panic. The rounds the machine fired slammed into the car with one catching Cameron in the side of face, shearing flesh off of her to reveal a small section of her endoskeleton. The cyborg dropped back behind the vehicle slightly surprised that she had been hit so soon. Drawing her handgun, Cameron felt a sudden surge of anger at the machine that had damaged her.

"The bike is over there John," she finally said pointing to where Derek's motorbike was, "when I tell you to run and start the bike, I will cover you."

John nodded wordlessly, afraid that he might crack if he said something. He winced slightly as several rounds smashed into the hood of the car. Cameron waited patiently until her sensors detected the faint click of a dry clip. This was their chance.

"Run now." Cameron called as she stood back up. She brought her gun up and took aim, The .45 ACP rounds exploded loudly from her handgun. As the bullets connected with the enemy terminator, John bolted for the bike. Cameron went with him at a slower pace, still pumping as many rounds as possible into the machine hoping to disorient it.

The machine continued to come at them, shrugging off and ignoring the minimal damage from the pistol rounds as it continued to fire at John, however ineffectively as Cameron maintained a shield between the man and the machine. Cameron was not spared from the hail of gunfire as her HUD read out several direct hits to her body.

Cameron turned her head and watched John jump on to the driver seat of the bike and kick started it abruptly. Firing one last shot at the machine, Cameron turned and ran to their escape, As she did her sensors detected a round smashing into her back harmlessly. She jumped on to the back and tapped John's shoulder. John took off, the bike leaving the machine in the dust.

"Here John," Cameron called through the roar of the bike and whistling of the air as she quickly placed his helmet over his head, partially for safety, partially to obscure his identity. Cameron pulled her helmet over her own head as John turned the bike into an alleyway to avoid traffic.

"Get that gun in the satchel out!" John called back to her quickly as swerved between a Minivan and a sedan.

She knew what he was thinking. She pulled the P90 from the side bag, the Personal Defense Weapon wasn't much. It wouldn't be able to stop the Terminator after them, but it would do for now. Cameron turned her head as she heard a faint siren, catching up with them.

"Drive faster!" She called through the headset, "and keep to the alleyways if you can!"

As Cameron said this, Cameron felt a sudden physical discomfort, a bullet had hit the back of her head. Cameron turned around and found herself looking into the T-888's eyes, she swung the P90 around, unloading nearly a full clip into the police cruisers window shredding through the glass and peppering the Skynet controlled machine with the small caliber fire.

"Through there." Cameron said, pointing out a narrow alleyway to their left. John gulped and listened to her, bringing the bike down to nearly 30 mph and carefully maneuvered the bike through the tight corridor. It worked, the Police cruiser hit the E-Brake and swerved to avoid smashing his car. John laughed to himself in victory. His bike skills beating out the killing machine. At least he thought he was good until five minutes later as he got out of the alleyway.

John hit the brake as quick as he could when the police car they had been fleeing from roared right in front of them, the T-888 had its pistol raised at them in that brief second, strafing the bike. The Kawasaki's front tire blew, spinning the super-bike out of control. Cameron gripped the jacket John was wearing and pulled him close to her.

Without a single warning to John, Cameron fell limply off of the bike, taking John with her. The Cyborg hit hard onto her back keeping John safe on her chest as she slid along the pavement. The Kawasaki lost control, smashing into a lamp post after they came to a stop. Weakly, John rolled off of Cameron body and stood up weakly, extending a hand out for Cameron to take.

"Thanks Cam." he said as Cameron maneuvered herself off of the ground and slowly walked over to the damaged bike while she scanned for possible serious damage to her Coltan chassis. Finding none, she turned her head up, immediately noticing the squeal of the car swinging back around.

"No time," Cameron stated, as she swiftly pulled several clips from the side bag, and ran back to him with a burst of speed "Keep running east, I have located the nearest gun store, keep your helmet on, we're going to rob them."

Before they could say anything else the T-888's police cruiser came roaring back at them. Cameron pushed John to get him running, as he did so Cameron aimed the small gun and fired a quick burst into the vehicles engine block and then fired on the Kawasaki's leaking gas tank, a stray spark setting Derek Reese's bike ablaze. The cyborg turned and ran quickly to catch up with John, who she saw was limping.

"Pass me your handgun Cameron." was the first thing that John said as she caught up to him. Cameron reached into her holster pulling it out for John who nodded, the extra weapon doubling his firepower.

As fast as she could lead him, Cameron took John to what looked like some sort of distribution plant for canned soft drinks. Taking hold of John's hand Cameron led them both over to a massive eighteen-wheel Semi Truck that was unoccupied and unsupervised.

"Cold storage tractor trailer," Cameron explained to John as she lead him through the cold storage trailer back she pulled open the back of the truck, a blast of noisy and frighteningly cold air hitting the pair of them, briskly the unaffected cyborg added, "hide down here, it will conceal your heat signature from the machine."

Cameron gestured to several crates a narrow space between them. John nodded reluctantly, despite now freezing from the sub zero temperature John laid flat down despite it. Cameron closed the truck doors behind and moved to where the human was now laying and planted herself over top of him as well. With Cameron now over top of them, she diminished her own heat source in order to better conceal him.

The cyborg tilted her head over her shoulder. Her auditory sensors detected the faint, well hidden sound of mechanical legs walking at rigid threatening pace. Searching for his human target and his protector. The machine noises paused for a moment, as if it had noticed something. After what felt like several long minutes the machine broke into a run trying to pick up the trail again.

"_It's moving?"_ John mouthed out to her questioningly. Not wanting to make a single noise to get them caught by the searching machine. Overhead the sound of the Semi truck came to life. Connor exhaled, his breath visible from the cold.

"We are heading in the correct direction." Cameron mused to herself, feeling significantly more relaxed knowing that their temporary hiding place wasn't immediately detected by the relentless machine. This wouldn't be the case for very long, the T-888 would be back.

"We lost him for a moment but we're going to have to go on the offensive." Cameron stated, pulling off her helmet in order to look at John closely. "We have to keep him solely focused onto us for the time being, otherwise it will look more closely for us with a greater number of machines."

John pulled off his own helmet and shuffled himself next to her. He wrapped his arm around her, Cameron turned to face the human, giving a slight smile at the touch. Cameron lips twitched as she felt John's hand move up along the side of her head where the T-888 had shot her. Gently he grazed it, his finger tracing the hollow point slug stuck in her in the face. He kissed Cameron on her forehead and raised her chin with his fingers, bringing her lips close to his.

"Cameron thanks for protecting me." He whispered to her. Cameron nodded at the acknowledgment, she leaned in and kissed him softly and rested her head into his shoulder after several minutes of the noisy, freezing ride Cameron turned her eyes back to him.

"This is where we get off John." Cameron said as she pulled herself away from John's chest. Cameron stood headed over to the back of the trailer. With all her might, she kicked the door from its hatch in one movement. Cameron turned back to John, who had just stood up to weakly walk over to her, pulling his helmet over his head again.

The truck must have reached a stop sign as it slowed. Just as the vehicle came to a stop the pair of them jumped out of the truck hitting the pavement running, Cameron matching John's speed as they bolted towards the sidewalk.

"Down there." Cameron said as she pointed out a rundown building nearly two hundred meters ahead of them. They both walked at a brisk pace, keeping both of their guards up against an inevitable attack from the absent machine. Amazingly, it was a relatively quiet street they were on, it was more along the line of a back road filled with skuzzy businesses, and it was one of those roads rarely taken by visitors and locals alike.

"So that's the store we're hitting Cam?" John called as he followed Cameron closely, panting and limping from the near continuous running that he and Cameron had been doing.

"Yes John," Cameron said, as she pulled the clip from her P90 in order to load it with a fresh clip, you hold up the owner, I will take the necessary weapons and ammunition. It will give me a moment to send a signal to John Henry."

"Why John Henry?" John asked, not seeing the reason what John Henry had to do with saving them.

"He has received data packets from me before," Cameron explained as they reached the store, "I will send an encrypted message out to him and tell him to have Weaver assist us."

"What about just using your cell phone?" He wondered aloud as he slowed down his run to a stop.

"Too risky," Cameron returned as she popped a P90 clip back into the weapon and looked back up to John, "this terminator might just be a point-man, others could potentially monitor any outgoing calls in the area, we could be traced."

John nodded in understanding, hoping to hell that John Henry would indeed inform the new Cameron could hold her own in this sort of fighting, but having an extra terminator aiding them

"Visors on John," Cameron said as she pulled hers over her eyes as well. She briefly took John's hand encouragingly stating, "At the count of three."

"One." Cameron called as she flipped the safety off again.

For some strange reason unknown to even him, John Connor didn't even bother to worry about waiting for Cameron to call out two or three, with a swift turn of his body he kicked in the Gun Shop's door and rushed the man behind the counter, Cameron was only two steps behind him slightly impressed as she saw him level both of his handgun's at the shop owner, a burly long haired looking man.

"FREEZE RIGHT THERE ASSHOLE!" John roared at him, bringing Cameron's USP near to the man's skull. Judging by the expression of fear etched into the poor bastards massive eyes, he wasn't about to mess around.

"Here man register's open, take what you need, just... just don't kill me!" His raspy voice called as he opened the cash register. John blinked from behind the black helmets visor.

"Close the FUCKING register, we're here for the guns!" John commanded his hostage, "Stay right where you are and verbally assist my companion over there."

John turned his head back to Cameron and gestured to her. In the brief moment that they had been separated in, she had snatched a black duffel bag from a rack and ran towards the ammunition section. Quietly machine started dumping various sizes of cartridges and shotgun shells into the bag. John turned back and noticed that the man had taken a step backwards.

"DON'T MOVE OR I'LL BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF!" John yelled again placing the handguns inches from the man's face. The man threw his hands back up, indicating his immediate submission.

"Listen man I don't want any trouble," He said, trying to negotiate with John.

"Neither do I, but this will turn ugly if you don't cooperate with us." Connor warned the man, feeling slightly dazed at what he was doing. Holding a man at gunpoint as Cameron robbed him wasn't his idea of a nice date for the two of them. But silently he bet himself fifty bucks that Cameron was secretly having a blast.

As he thought about Cameron, she made her way back to John's side and emotionless she stated, "Your Shotgun's are Civilian model Remington twelve gauges. Do you have any sort of tactical shotguns? A Franchi or Benelli?"

The middle aged man's eyes darted from Cameron to John and then over to the wall rack of weapons behind him, after a moment of hesitation he pointed out a shotgun on the rack. "I have a Mossberg 590 that's all." the man said nervously. Cameron took a step forward, carefully examining the man for any signs of deceit in his fearful expression.

"He's lying my friend." Cameron finally said to John. John nodded from behind his helmet and cocked back the USP, relocating the barrel to his neck.

"WAIT!" The man cried to the helmeted robbers, "Alright, I have a Benelli M3, It's only a pump action though. I gotta open the case down here okay?" he finished pointing to a dark case behind him. Cameron stared at the man again.

"Acceptable," She allowed, "Hand me the Mossberg first and then open the case."

"SLOWLY." John roared at him as he made a quick jerking movement, the man nodded nervously as he pulled the Mossberg off of the rack and handed it to Cameron.

Still at a slow pace he moved to go open the metal case in the corner, as he lifted the cover of the case it revealed a single Benelli M3 Combat Shotgun. The man rose the weapon as well handing it over to Cameron in the same slow manner.

"What about that Carbine?" John pointed out to Cameron as he noticed the weapon on the rack. The man behind the counter turned his head towards the rack, looking for what John was pointing out.

"AR-15," The gun shop owner stated with a nervous laugh, "A beauty of a weapon, I'll throw it in as well." However Cameron held up her hand before the man could make a move towards the rifle.

"No, it's not what we are looking for." Cameron mused as she went into her own mind briefly, "Do you have a similar weapon using 7.62x51mm rounds, an M14 perhaps?"

"I don't have an M14 here, but that's a G3 in the corner," The guy stated briskly, gesturing vaguely over to the Rifle. "It fires the same 7.62mm NATO rounds, slightly less velocity but still does the job."

The helmeted girl nodded her head and extended her hand, at the gesture, the man moved over to the rack and pulled the rifle off and handed it to her, before Cameron could inquire for clips he opened the drawer from behind the counter and produced half a dozen empty clips for her. Cameron scooped the clips up from the counter and walked over to the front door, peering out of the door for any signs of the machine that was sure to be there within minutes.

"We done here?" John called out to her. Cameron closed the door and pulled a large hunting accessory rack over to the door in order to feebly barricade the door.

"Yes, we have to leave, he's 45 seconds away, and he must have detected our voices." Cameron called as she re-slung the duffel bag over her shoulder, "I observed a back way out, come on, we got to go."

John released the hammer and followed Cameron's lead, calling "I'm sorry man!" behind him as they pushed through the employee only door. Rushing to find the fire exit. From a muffled distance John heard the machine enter the store, his police disguise seemed to bring a false sense of comfort to the recently released man as he called, and "Thank God you're here officer! Those bastards went back the-"

The loud crack of a single gunshot and the sound of a man slumping dead onto the ground served to reinforce John's desires to get out of there. Within seconds, the terminator smashed through the employee door, his eyes staring mechanically at the two of them. The machine remained motionless. While it's target had an escape route to leave with, the T-888 knew if both the human and it's machine protector were to run they would both be eliminated.

Cameron backed up slightly, her dark eyes never leaving her target until she turned them away for only a third of a second, scanning through the back door and briefly examined the parking lot. After a second Cameron turned back to the human and handed him the duffel bag full of weapons.

"Hotwire the Suburban out back John." Cameron requested quietly, "I will hold him off, honk the horn once you are done."

"Cameron.." John begged, fearful for what the girl was proposing.

"John I'll be fine get out of here now." Cameron ordered suddenly, demanding John to save himself from the machine. John nodded curtly and ran out towards the vehicle. Cameron closed the door behind her and pulled off her helmet as she glared darkly at the T-888.

Cameron bolted at the machine ignoring the machines gunfire. Cameron's fist connected with the T-888's skull, snapping it to the side. Cameron wrapped her hands around the combat infiltrator's neck and smashed him into the wall.

Over and over again Cameron smashed the T-888's head through drywall and then through the wooden wall until she was smashing the machine against the concrete exterior. The anger at this machine for threatening John's life overwhelming her.

Cameron pulled one hand from off the machines neck and tried to smash it against its face. Her sloppy decision backfired as the larger cyborg captured Cameron's hand and rose it almost over its head, lifting the smaller machine an inch or two off the ground. Slowly the enemy machine tilted his head, as if carefully examining the unique machine girl it had been fighting.

Quickly determining that the hardware compromised prototype machine was only a moderate threat to it, the T-888 lifted Cameron's arm up higher as his other hand lifted her by her lower leg, lifting the girl over his head and, with all its might, smashed her face first into the laminate flooring, slamming the girl hard into the floor.

Cameron looked up and realized that she had made a mistake with engaging the machine. She was too emotional to be engaging in hand to hand combat with a machine hell-bent on killing her love, her reason for wanting to be more than just a machine. Cameron lifted herself up and carefully backed away from the pretty smashed up looking T-888. Once again she struck, this time at the machines knees. Tackling the cyborg to the ground.

"Resistance is pointless TOK-715," The terminator stated blandly as it struggled to unpin itself, "John Connor must be terminated, you cannot stop it."

Hearing such a cold statement made Cameron further enraged with the machine, she re-wrapped her hands around the machines neck, this time smashing her head into his. After the third hit a loud and continuous honk broke out over the fight. John was ready for her. She lifted herself off of the terminator and ran towards the exit pulling the half empty FN P90 back up off the ground.

Cameron pointed the weapon the weapon and sprayed it at the machine as she ran backward into the door smashing through it. Cameron turned and ran to John who was screaming "MOVE, MOVE!" The cyborg climbed into the backseat as John took off and ran the SUV onto the road leaving the T-888 standing alone, watching them carefully.

"Head down to 312 West Fifth Street. It is an underground parking lot located there." Cameron requested as she crawled into the front seat next to John, adding "Catherine Weaver should meet us there, it will be a perfect opportunity for an ambush."

Cameron pulled the duffel bag from off of the floor of the SUV and pulled the two shotguns out silently loading them. Cameron did her best to avoid the look John was giving her she continued to avoid John as she loaded several G3 clips. She was in bad shape, aesthetically, Cameron was covered in various sizes of bloody ballistic wounds from the terminators continuous fire.

All this damage on his behalf. This wasn't just some action of a reprogrammed machine. This was a girl, so dedicated to him that she'd put herself in this kind of condition.

"Cameron I love you." John called out to her as he looked back to the road in front of him. The girl snapped her head up looking into John's reassuring look. She smiled slightly at him, self consciously covering the loosely hanging skin from off her forehead.

Cameron clinched her lips and nodded thankfully. Quickly returning her look back to loading the clips. There was no time for romance notions at the moment, they had a terminator to lure.


	23. First Impressions

**Chapter Twenty Three: First Impressions**

**

* * *

**

_WARNING: Incoming Data Packet Transmitted...Detecting source of Data Packet, standby..._

_Source of Data Packet: Prototype series: TOK-715_

_Accept Data Packet? [__Y/N__]...__Y__...Data Packet Received... Opening Packet._

_RE: High Priority Message_

_John Henry,_

_John Connor has been attacked by Series 888 Combat Infiltrator Unit, Attempting to protect him, we are on the run, have acquired heavier armaments. I am setting up an ambush against pursuer, please inform Catherine Weaver that we require assistance._

_Have Catherine Weaver notified, location is at 312 West fifth Street. We will attempt to buy some time._

_Cameron_

John Henry closed the message. It appeared that the TOK unit and her human companion were in trouble.

John Henry stood up and walked over to where Miss Weaver had left him a cell phone for him to use. Silently the AI typed the message he had received word from word. After pressing send he sat back down. Feeling relatively unconcerned by the incident he sat back down behind his table and went back to one of his many projects.

They would be in good hands, after all Miss Weaver was exceptional at dealing with these sorts of situations. Perhaps this would be a chance to meet Mister Connor and his unusual protector.

* * *

"Has Serena Kogan confirmed tomorrow afternoon's engagement yet Miss Anderson?"

"Yes Miss Weaver, Doctor Kogan said that 12:45PM would be a perfect time."

"Very good."

Catherine looked up from her computer and gave her still standing assistant an unreadable stare. A second passed by before she held up her hand, gesturing the human to take a seat in order to join her.

"Miss Anderson, I am going away for the summer as you well now already." Catherine said as she watched Lauren take a seat. "Before I go however I would like you to have some time off as well. You have been an exceptional personal assistant, not many survive as long as you have." She added, allowing a rare compliment to escape, "Take as much time off as you need, it will be a fully paid vacation."

Anderson did a double take from the generous gift that her employer had given her. After a moment to collect herself Lauren looked up and with an appreciative smile, she managed to utter "Thank you so much Miss Weaver, that's very generous of you."

Before Anderson could say anything further to her, Catherine Weaver quickly held up her hand, indicating that she was not done quite yet.

"I will on occasion require you to come in and sort a few details out while I am away, it will not be particularly difficult tasks, but we shall sort that out on a later date." Weaver paused, hesitantly adding, "You may consider this my apology for my rude outburst the other day."

"Apology accepted Miss Weaver," Anderson replied without a moment's hesitation, "I understand that you are under stress and all."

"That is no excuse for my poor behavior," Catherine retorted easily, with her well practiced false smile she added. "I usually hold myself to higher standards...One moment Miss Anderson."

Catherine Weaver's BlackBerry had been emitting an odd Text message sound. So quickly she pulled it off her desk and opened its contents. As Anderson watched her bosses eyes scroll down the LCD screen her expression slowly darkened at the content.

After a moment of chilling silence Catherine looked up and met Anderson's eyes.

"It is my turn to once again apologize Miss Anderson, I am afraid I must take an early leave," Catherine finally said as she closed the message and stood up from behind her desk. "Please inform Mister Bradshaw that our meeting will be postponed until Monday afternoon."

"Miss Weaver are you okay?" Anderson inquired from her employer as she stood to follow the woman to the door. Catherine shook her head curtly as she pulled her purse from off of her hanger near the door and rushed out, Lauren two feet behind her.

"No, but I soon will be, have a pleasant afternoon." Catherine returned over her shoulder.

Catherine stormed past the executive offices, ignoring the curious glances she was getting until she reached the elevator and turned right around as she hit the parking lot button. Catherine pulled up her BlackBerry and dialed in Sarah Connor's number. She did not want to. Upsetting a human was one thing. Upsetting a paranoid Technophobe with a personal arsenal that could arm a full company of soldiers was quite another.

Telling Sarah was necessary however, if this had been her daughter in trouble and Sarah Connor knew before her, she would tell the machine in an instant. Quickly, Catherine concluded that nearly unbearable thought, the very moment the elevator came to a stop at the employee parking lot. She broke into a bolt, despite the fact she had been wearing heels.

As Weaver hit the call button, she quickly devised a plan to follow that incorporated the Cameron's ambush point. She wondered to herself how Cameron was holding up, undoubtedly an attack on John was certain to play on the worst emotions Cameron had to offer and especially the ones she hadn't experienced enough of yet. This strain on her wasn't good, the quicker she left the state for the summer, the better.

"Hello?" Sarah Connor's voice suddenly called out to her, edged in curiosity.

"Sarah, don't talk, just listen to what I must say," Catherine ordered from Sarah before she had a chance to add anything else. "Cameron and John have been attacked by a Series 888 Cyborg, they are fine for the time being."

"Cameron has set up an ambush, I have just left my office. While I have no doubt of my ability to handle it, I need you to aid in escorting Cameron and John to my home."

The other end did not reply right away. Instead the sound of a slow rhythmic inhales and exhales came from the other end of the line, she heard the woman's footsteps until a door was ripped open.

"OH for FUCKS SAKE!" Sarah suddenly screamed over the phone as she slammed the front door and ran back through the house with haste, "Derek took the goddamn truck!" Sarah did not have a vehicle for transportation. Catherine closed her eyes quietly to determine whether or not it was tactically wise to go and retrieve Sarah before meeting up with Cameron to fight this threat. Ultimately Cameron was potentially fighting these machines for up to ten minutes due to this delay.

Catherine closed her eyes to think more carefully. Cameron was a smaller model than what she was fighting. Smaller, less blunt strength but quicker than the T-888, and potentially more vicious. The T-888 wasn't being dictated by emotion. Cameron was. That and Cameron was now fighting for the life of the human who was the reason for this shift in her personality.

"I see, I am on my way." Catherine finally said, "I will be there inside ten minutes. Be prepared."

"You're goddamn right I'll be ready," Sarah breathed dangerous the sound of what Catherine assumed was a high caliber rifle smashing against a wooden table "DRIVE FASTER."

Sarah hung the phone up before the T-1001 had the chance to tell her she had only just pulled her car from the parking garage. Weaver turned the phone and stepped on the accelerator. While doing this solo would be more effective. Bringing an enraged mother along would serve just as well.

* * *

"Where's Weaver?" John called as he climbed out of the Suburban, pulling out the Mossberg 570 and the G3 from between the front seats. Cameron had ordered him to drive around the back roads of city at a speed that would allow the machine a slim chance to keep up.

Cameron followed his actions, pulling the second Shotgun they had stolen up as well.

"I am not sure John Connor," Cameron replied as she pumped a 12 gauge shell into the chamber, "I believe she is either on her way or getting herself in place to ambush the machine."

"You ready for this?" John asked, trying to pump himself up for the fight. Much to his surprise however, Cameron shook her head in disagreement.

"John I have become inefficient," Cameron warned him, "sloppy even. I allow emotional distractions to compromise my close quarter combat abilities. I get worried, too worried for our own good."

"Then don't worry about me." John countered seriously, turning from the entrance of the parking lot, with a slight smile he added "Cameron, I'm going to be fine."

"John if I had zero emotional compromises the likelihood of a serious injury to you is nineteen percent." Cameron paused quietly calculating the new probability, after double checking the number, Cameron looked up and added to him, "The probability has jumped to sixty two percent."

"I am scared John," The cyborg added, pressing her small fingers to his lips, "judging from your personality I have every right to be afraid for you. I need you to stay out of the way, no matter how bad it gets for myself."

"This is my fight too Cameron, I'm going to help whether you like it or not okay?" John stated defiantly. Cameron scanned John carefully. He wasn't about to budge in the matter. In fact his demeanor only strengthened with each passing second they maintained their stare.

She had a sudden inexplicable desire to smash him in the face with the butt of her shotgun. The cyborg wanted him out of the way for this engagement so much that she was willing to render him unconscious while she fought on his behalf. It would be a justifiable attack, John Connor was a stubborn young man, even more emotionally compromised than she was. She could hide it, she could suppress any change if she decided too. John however would not be able to, at least not in a long term engagement against the machine. He had specifically told her that there were moments he had forgotten the machine side had been there.

"Okay John," Cameron finally aloud after discarding the idea of attacking him and choosing to give him a chance. "But please, do me one favor and stay at a distance, I require you to promise me this."

John weighed the request, after a moment he nodded and leaned in slightly. Placing her lips on to his, Cameron and his way to seal the deal with him. A small part of her CPU knew this promise would, in all likelihood be a broken promise. It was human nature to go back on promises after all. Cameron did not care however, for now it made things feel much better.

As she pulled her lips from his a four door dark Sedan came barreling in through the only entrance and exit from the underground lot. The car came to an abrupt screeching halt, less than a second later the driver side door was kicked off the hinge with ease, flying a dozen or so feet away. The pale, partially exposed terminator pulled its body out of the car. Standing solidly as it faced his targets, a simple expression masking its intentions.

Cameron pushed John back behind her. The Triple Eight noticed the action and made its move, charging to engage the compromised machine. Cameron narrowed her eyes and reacted by running at it as well. As Cameron got closer she swung the pump action shotgun from behind her back and shot the machine in the chest, the loud and destructive shot forced the T-888 stagger backwards. Cameron violently pumped in the next round, firing over and over again until she met the off-balanced machine.

As she pumped in the fifth round she was a barrel length away, the force of the projectile had the potential to serious damage it. Suddenly the machine looked up from its stunned look with a deceptive smile. She had been tricked. The terminator grabbed hold of Cameron's shotgun, as it pulled up the trigger slipped, firing into the ceiling. The female machine gave the male one a sneer. She forced the shotgun's butt to smash into the T-888's skull.

Riot kicking the machine in the chest, Cameron forced the T-888 to buckle back, the female terminator took control of the battered shotgun once more. Pumping in its final shell Cameron took aim and nearly got a shot off when the T-888 brought his fist up to strike back. Punching the girl head in the face, the power behind the punch nearly knocking Cameron away from him.

The girl reaffirmed her stance as the machine swung again. She caught the fist and with all her strength, she managed to swing the terminator around in a circle and threw him in to a concrete pillar landing the T-888 about twenty five meters from John.

It was John's turn to act now. The moment he had a clear shot he aimed the G3 Carbine in his hands, firing with as much precision the rifle had. The 7.62mm rounds slammed against the metal. As he continued to fire Cameron joined him, slowly walking to the terminator firing her USP's with little effect to the T-888.

The Skynet controlled machine rose the Beretta in its holster and aimed at John, Cameron shifted her fire to the terminators handgun, wildly shooting it out of his hand. The gun fell to the floor just as the machine got a shot off. The bullet barely missed John, smashing into the SUV behind him.

John staggered but took the cue, tossing himself underneath the SUV, loading a fresh clip into the rifle and started to fire again. This time the T-888 had regrouped itself. He charged at the Suburban with his target lowered his body, ready to dive after John until it felt a unexpected massive force intercept it, instead hitting the human the machine smashed itself into the vehicles side, causing it to shudder like an earthquake.

Cameron pulled herself up and grabbed hold of the bigger machine's hair and chin, yanking him back away from her John, she replanted the terminator against the bullet riddled pillar. She shifted her body around, pinning him against the wall the best she could.

"You have made a grievous mistake." Cameron uttered to the T-888. The female Cybernetic organism rose up slightly, slamming her knee in to the machine's face over and over with all her strength.

Suddenly the police officer T-888 spasmed violently. The action knocked Cameron onto her behind. Her eyes widened as the machine stood back up, fire in its eyes. The terminator ran at her, scooping her up by her neck and ran as fast as it could into the nearest wall.

Cameron kicked and struggled against the terminators vice grip, but it had been futile. She hit the wall so hard that the concrete wall cracked and crumbled. Without letting go of her, the T-888 pulled her from the wall and ran her through the windshield of a mid nineties Honda Civic.

"YOU BASTARD!" John suddenly roared as he stood up to charge the machine for its crimes against Cameron. In his hands was the stolen Mossberg 590, firing the shotgun at the metal as quickly as he could.

As he heard the Shotgun's final shell hit the ground he rose the weapon as a club. Before he got the chance to swing the weapon the terminator grabbed hold of his shoulder, raising him up and tossed him at the vehicle as well, his arm cracking violently on the pavement as his head slammed into the Honda's aluminum door, knocking him out cold.

Cameron had witnessed the Terminator's actions and screamed violently in a sudden intolerable, uncontrollable rage. Cameron jumped off the Honda's hood and landed on top of the machine. The girl began to throttle the machine. She didn't care if it was an ineffective way of killing it, she just wanted to cause it as much pain as possible. No longer rationally accepting the reality that the machine did not feel pain.

With all her might she pulled the T-888 up and over her head, tossing the cyborg as far as she could from her. The machine landed hard against the sedan it had come in. The machine looked dazed, almost as if it needed a moment to figure out its next move. Cameron looked from the machine and then over to John's sprawled body.

Choosing between finishing the machine off and making sure that John was okay had been an easy decision on her part. She ran to John, checking over his condition briefly before lifting him up in her arms, gently carrying him to relative safety behind the Suburban. Cameron tapped him on the face getting his eyes open and nearly focused.

"Ca..Cameron?" John groaned out groggily as he felt himself get set down against the SUV's tire.

"Yes John, I am just getting you out of the way. I told you not to get too close." Cameron returned, trying her best not to sound concerned for him.

She stood up rigidly and walked around the Chevy, bending slightly to lift the G3 carbine off of the ground. She pulled the hammer back and looked up to the T-888, who was now standing back up. Cameron's expression resonated pure unbridled hatred as her HUD pulled up a paraphrasing of something Derek said about her.

"_Tear the Metal apart; Piece by fucking piece."_

_

* * *

_

Cameron smiled slightly at the statement. Derek Reese's anti machine statement was exactly what she intended on doing.

Sarah had never felt so helpless in her entire existence. Catherine Weaver had made it to her home in under ten minutes, an amazing feat, even after she had factored in traffic. Quietly she started to unload the shotgun. Without any words she looked over to the nanotech based machine that was focused solely on getting to her son and Cameron as soon as possible.

This was insurmountable. Sarah Connor, infamous anti technology terrorist and one of the scarce few individuals to know of what the future held for the human race was now riding shotgun with a machine that probably could have disposed of her without so much as lifting more than it's little finger.

At any rate the mother was ready for an armed altercation, as prepared as she'd ever be. Hidden underneath her leather jacket was a military grade Kevlar vest, just in case the machine in question was still packing heat and had an aversion to being deactivated by the overwhelming force it was going to encounter.

Catherine looked over to the source of the noise, Sarah Connor had been replacing the rounds, from the 12 gauge buckshot shells, with what looked like custom rounds, Coltan based slugs. The rounds would do a significant job of damaging the machine should she get that close, and that would only happen should Cameron let the infiltration unit survive long enough for the two of them to fight.

"We are nearly there now," Weaver calmly announced to the impatient female, "Do you remember your part in this extraction?"

Sarah glanced over to the terminator looking slightly perturbed at being prodded about her role and nodded swiftly, "Get John and Cameron, steal a vehicle, and get our asses up to your house in the north." Sarah recited easily as she also pulled Derek's custom AN-94 from the backseat of the luxury Lexus.

"Correct." Catherine returned in assent as she turned off the highway and onto the street Cameron had told them about. The machine and the human fell in to a tense silence, neither wanting to speak to the other. Usually whenever Weaver and Sarah were in one another presence, they had Cameron or John acting as a third party in order to safeguard against any possible disagreements that could easily violently escalate between both of the women who had fancied themselves as good mothers.

Maybe that had been the actual reason she had chosen to pick up Sarah Connor rather than heading straight into the fray. Maybe she was compelled to take Sarah along for the sole reason to allow her to personally ensure that her only child would be alright. Catherine inwardly cleared her mind. Such thoughts were inefficient and detracted from her upcoming engagement.

Catherine noticed the entrance to checked out to be the parking lot Cameron had informed John Henry about. Instead of rushing the car in, Catherine pulled the Lexus on to the sidewalk came to a stop. Sarah jumped the car quickly, only pausing as she slung the SPAS-12 over her back and pulled up the Abakan. She ran down the sloping pavement towards the sound of two machines fighting each other.

Cameron and the tattered T-888 were circling each other, both waiting for the other to attack. Sarah paused and noticed that John was attempting to shuffle himself over to the back of a battered sports utility vehicle. He was using the bumper to level an assault rifle with his right arm, his left arm hung limply to his side.

As Sarah ran over to get to her son Cameron lashed out at the machine kicking his leg out and grabbing his head to ram it into the ground. The triple eight had other plans. He retched the feminine arm off him and pulled her down, trying to ram his knee into her head. Cameron rolled out of the way, her arm grabbing onto the pavement to push herself away from the machine. As Sarah reached her son he started firing on the lone T-888 in short controlled bursts.

"John, thank god you're okay." Sarah whispered to her child as his rifle went dry. Sarah nearly hugged her son then and there, despite the two terminators locked in combat.

"Yeah, things are great..." John muttered painfully, he looked over Sarah's shoulders and curiously asked "why in the hell is Weaver just standing there?"

Indeed she was. Catherine Weaver stood there, as if she had been the conductor of the violent show that was now occurring. She watched with an impassive boredom as Cameron and the T-888 were locked in a deadly duel. Sarah wasn't sure what to make of it. Perhaps she had been waiting for the perfect moment to strike. As the Series 888 Terminator closed in on John's protector, Cameron swung her leg around and kicked the metal in the jaw stunning it for a second.

"CAMERON, GET THE HELL OUTTA THE WAY!" Sarah roared. Cameron turned her head and observed Sarah with Derek's AN-94 raised. The female terminator quickly disengaged from fighting and ran towards the humans. As Cameron dropped herself down to pull John up from his sitting position, Sarah started forward, pouring semi-automatic fire onto the T-888, covering for the cyborg and her son's tactical retreat.

The T-888 disregarded the attack and charged at Cameron and John. The cybernetic girl quickly placed John behind her in anticipation of the attack. But before the machines connected against other yet again, in a flash Weaver was standing in front Cameron and John.

The machine stopped as well. Not in reevaluating it's attack, but because Catherine's arms were no longer human arms. They were long blades that made Sarah flinch in remembrance of her previous encounter with Catherine kind. The T-888 widened his eyes as it looked down to its chassis. The T-1001 blades had gone through him.

"Go now." Weaver commanded over her shoulder. Her voice lacking any feeling to it. Cameron nodded her head and retook John by his waist. As they passed by Catherine wordlessly, Sarah started to walk backwards, watching Weaver.

"I'll deal with him, I noticed an Escalade up there to lay John out in." Catherine softly called out to Sarah, maintaining her steely gaze on the T-888. Sarah nodded and, with one last parting glance at the impaled machine, she ran off to catch up with Cameron and John. It was not a difficult task to do with Cameron leading her injured boyfriend back up to the street.

As Sarah rushed ahead of Cameron and John she smashed open the Escalade's driver side window with the butt of her rifle and unlocked it. It took the woman a minute to hot wire the vehicle. In that time Cameron had carefully placed John into the truck.

As the SUV came to life Sarah tossed the AN-94 and the Shotgun behind her for Cameron to use. Cameron failed her duty, Cameron failed in adequately defending John from the machine threat. John's current condition was her fault. There was no other explanation.

"Here, keep watch and this time do a better job for fuck sake." Sarah yelled behind her, clearly angered and frustrated with the machine that was to be in charge of protecting John with her life.

Cameron nodded and turned away from Sarah in shame, her friend was mad at her. If only Sarah would listen to her. But she wouldn't, her son had been injured and Sarah Connor was looking for someone to blame. As she grazed John's lacerated face and knew that she would be soon receiving the blunt end of the protective mothers rage.

* * *

Weaver stood there as she faintly heard the sound of a vehicle drive off. Her focus solely squared on The T-888 on her arm. The machine was struggling against the hold of the blade that was ran though him. Resistance was useless for it. The terminator had been caught and there was no escape for it. It was now up to the T-1001 to pass judgment on the machine.

Catherine looked around at the triple eight with only the bare minimum of interest, like a child looking at long outdated toy. The machine was a different variant than John Henry, it was built with combat in mind instead of advanced infiltration. Built for the purpose of watching from a distance and then attacking its target mercilessly rather than fully integrating into human life. But even with that in mind. The machine was of little interest to her.

"Tell me, have you been assigned a name?" Weaver inquired from him, as if the machine would answer her.

The cyborg merely held it's strained stare at the liquid terminator. Catherine allowed a small smile for the still on mission machine. She knew exactly what she was going to do with the terminator. Weaver pulled her right arm from out of the T-888 and formed it back into a proper human limb. Fourteen seconds prior, the T-1001 suddenly had a sudden thought, a way to benefit from this situation that Cameron and John had gotten themselves into.

"I know that you will not appreciate what is about to happen," Catherine whispered to the impaled machine softly, "but I have found a use for you."

Quicker than the machine could react, Catherine swung her arm around and peeled the organic tissue from off the CPU port. With a twist, she pulled the Machine's CPU with ease. Within a millisecond of removing the device, the machine dropped limp onto Weaver's blade, deactivated. Catherine pulled the blade out of the machine allowing it to fall to the ground with a clambering crash.

Weaver gave the killing machine one last look before she placed the CPU into her jacket pocket and looked up to survey the extensive damage the two cyborg's did to the place. Damaged vehicles, various weapons discarded, shell casings and stolen vehicles and blood, lots of blood. Most notably, a small pooling of blood on the ground next to the Suburban. Catherine walked over to the pool and bent over to touch it.

Her readings read out that it was both organic and synthetic blood types. It only meant one thing, John Connor was injured, and too what extent she wasn't sure. Catherine turned from the blood, confident that this situation was under control by Cameron's devotion to the human.

Catherine reached into her pocket and pulled out her Black Berry, gently tapping the contact list, finding the just the person needed for this job.

"Miss Weaver?" a deep, male voice called to her tentatively.

"Mister Ellison," Weaver returned turning her gaze to the deactivated machine, "I need a cleanup crew at this location, I've located a new protector for John Henry."

* * *

"We're almost there." Sarah called back to the cyborg in the backseat. Cameron nodded and moved herself from her watchful stare to John, who had been moaning slightly in pain from his injuries, so Cameron placed her hand onto John's chest, tapping it slightly.

"John try to stay conscious, you have a grade one concussion so it is a necessary that you must stay awake." Cameron warned him carefully as she turned her attention from scanning the area for possible threats and over to John. He was in an unacceptable condition. One of his more visible injures had been an anterior shoulder dislocation. Fixing that injury would have to wait for now.

Sarah Connor was not showing it yet but Cameron knew was going to upset with what had happened today. She promised her that John would be safe with her. He wasn't, she was in trouble, and she needed to gather herself, perhaps even suppressing her own developments whenever an engagement were to happen again.

"Sarah, I tried to protect him." Cameron suddenly called out to the mother of her boyfriend, adding, "I wanted him to stay at an acceptable distance but he just did not listen to me."

Sarah ignored the information Cameron was trying to convey to her. It seemed to the cyborg, Sarah just did not want to understand, or even care to know. Cameron concluded that she was undoubtedly mad at her.

But why? While she had understood Sarah Connor's emotional attachment to her child, she just wasn't sure why Sarah's anger was going to be directed at her. She had followed all the correct procedures with engaging a physically stronger terminator. She evaded the machine and led it to a place where she could limit its chance of escape. Admittedly she was more emotionally involved which led to more risks taken, and besides the one time John had charged the machine, everything went off smoothly.

Cameron moved her head to look in to the car mirror, gazing through the angle it had so she figure out the expression Sarah had. It was pointless of her to do so. Sarah's expression was guarded which meant only one thing. She was mad.

Sarah seemed to have noticed that the girl was looking for some kind of kinder gesture. Instead Sarah threw her hand back to the cyborg, her Aviators rested in her hands.

"Cover yourself up will you? Your sensor is showing." Sarah muttered to Cameron roughly. She nodded and reexamined herself in the mirror. Her left iris was damaged and had been pulled away, revealing her cold blue, ocular sensor. Cameron placed the glasses on and looked away from Sarah.

"Where are we going?" John asked broke over them, looking confused with the surrounding rushing by them as Sarah slowed only enough to turn the stolen Escalade to enter the gated community that the Weavers resided in.

"Catherine Weaver's residence," Cameron informed him patiently, taking hold of his hand "we are heading to her home in case the machines follow both of us to the safe house."

John turned his head and nodded to himself, smiling slightly crookedly to himself.

"Oh, that's nice of her to let us come over." John called back lightly, as if he hadn't been injured. Quickly Cameron determined that John's endorphins must have been flowing throughout his body. That, combined with his minor concussion, he was, losing his sense of reality.

"Tin Miss pull him together." Sarah ordered without looking at her Cameron turned to John who looked as if he was ready to close his eyes and fall asleep.

"John Connor you must stay awake, it is the best course of action with regards to your concussion." Cameron called mechanically as she slightly bent over to tap John's face to get his attention. John grunted in mild irritation, trying to keep her hand from smacking him.

"You know, my arm isn't hurting anymore, did you pop it into place?" John wondered to himself. Cameron shook her head as Sarah pulled up into the Weaver's driveway.

"No John, your pituitary gland is producing a high dosage of endorphins to ease the pain steaming from your anterior shoulder dislocation." Cameron explained to him slowly "If I were to set your shoulder back into place you would have known."

Cameron fell silent as she watched Catherine Weaver's home come into view. To the untrained eye the home was simply large. A luxurious home, built to accommodate a decadently wealthy woman and her child. To Cameron it had been a different idea, as she scanned the home she found dozens of spots that could be considered as defensible points in the home and around the grounds.

With a sudden stop, Sarah parked the vehicle as close to the entrance as she could and jumped out of the stolen vehicle. Running around the front and opened the Escalades door and helped her wounded son out of the car tenderly. Cameron stayed in her seat making sure John was okay to move. However John slid slightly down the side of the SUV, his back nearly smacking in to the side of the seat. He staggered in place as he turned his head and gave Cameron good look over.

"Your endoskeleton has been exposed Cam." John quickly pointed out to her as she jumped out of the vehicle. Cameron paused and brought her fingertip to the exposure of what hid behind her organic tissue. Remembering that Savannah Weaver was in all likelihood at home, the sight of Cameron true identity might just frighten the girl.

Cameron fell deep into her mind, Her HUD highlighting the many sections of organic tissue damage she was suffering from. She activated the bodily fluids subroutine, telling the program to allow her synthetic blood to pour over her exposed tissue damage.

"Come on John you are in very bad shape." Cameron said as she retook his arm and gingerly led him up the front steps once again. Making sure that John would not stumble.

"What do you expect, I'm only human." he replied belatedly, "That and attacking a terminator wasn't a bright idea on my part." Sarah cringed at the statement he made but before Cameron could respond in chastising agreement she felt his lips touch hers.

"Cameron? Have I ever told you that you are a very attractive cyborg girl?" John managed to asked his sudden words meant to flirt with her weakly "I mean surely you know."

John's weak attempt at flirtation despite his injures gave Cameron a moment of lighter thoughts, drifting off to that of all the possibilities that came with the trip to Montana came with, a chance to live a stress free, low terminator existence with the young man she deeply cared for.

"Do you recall that I had specifically informed you to not engage the T-888 at close range," Cameron informed him, breaking her dream and strengthening her grip as he nearly slipped on a staircase, "why did you disregard what I asked? The machine could have terminated you. My mission would have failed if something would have happened to you."

"Cameron I wasn't about to let you get damaged by that machine needlessly." John managed to spit out coherently, "I have to grow up, we got what? Two and a half years now? I'm not going to hide and let...let mom Derek and yourself fight every time something risky happens." John looked over to Sarah and added "I have to get some sort of experience right? Well that starts now."

Sarah wasn't impressed with his words, muttering "you won't get anywhere if you get your ass killed on your first try John."

John shook his head and ignored his mother's dark words.

"Besides Cam you are an awesome, amazing person...you're far too pretty to let that bastard machine hurt you." John added with a very off center smile, deliriously pinching Cameron undamaged right cheek. Cameron blinked at his strange reaction, she was unsure of what to make of this behavior, perhaps John Connor was having a unique reaction to his injury.

Instead of reacting to his sudden grasp of her bottom, Cameron looked away towards the driveway making sure no one had been following them. Satisfied that no one had been there she turned her eyes back halfway until she caught something trailing behind them. A line that had stemmed from the SUV.

Blood. John Connor's blood.

Cameron turned her shaded eyes turned back to John. It made sense now, the concussion wasn't the only thing that was causing his altered mental status, and it was blood loss as well. Cameron searched him immediately detecting the source of his injury. The cybernetic organism pulled up John's blood dampened shirt.

It was a gunshot wound; admittedly it was not a serious one. The Terminator that had taken a shot at him had grazed him in the side of his abdomen. The damage had still done a number to him, the blood that was no longer constrained by the shirt, poured freely down him. Cameron placed her hand over the wound and looked up at him, anger clearly etched in her eyes.

"I, ah...I didn't want to worry you Cam," John said trying to sound confidently he looked back down at the wound and quickly added, "We had to get out of there."

He broke his promise to her; he had been injured even worse than she had anticipated. Why did she not do a full body scan? Why didn't she search for every injury he may have had? Had she attempted to delude herself into believe that he was fine besides the dislocation and the concussion?

"Sarah look." Cameron called out to get her upset friends attention. Sarah turned from the door and found herself looking at the bloody partial gunshot wound her son had received.

"Cover that damn wound Cameron." Sarah commanded the cyborg dangerously, Cameron obliged the mother. She ignored the painful yelp as she clenched her hand over top the serious injury.

Sarah turned around and begun to violently bang on the front door as loud as she had when she busted the two of them fooling around the other day. This tie however she was like a maniac about it, relentless from the unfocused fear she possessed.

A minute passed by with Sarah pounding and screaming for Savannah to open up until finally, Cameron heard the numerical beeping sound of a keypad door lock. The door opened and Savannah Weaver stood in the door frame with a wide smile to greet them with. Savannah's mouth dropped from the smile and ended up open wide at the sight of her bloodied babysitter and her boyfriend. She screamed in shock. So Sarah quickly dropped onto her knee and took hold of the little girl's shoulders.

"It's okay Savannah," Sarah shushed the little girl comfortingly hoping to keep her lucid despite the battered messes she was looking at, "Cameron and John are going to be okay, can we come in?"

Judging by the fearful look in the eight year old had Sarah's words had no effect on her. However, despite the fear Savannah nodded and gave them entrance.

"John and I were in a motorcycle accident, he does not have his license for a motorcycle, so we came here." Cameron quickly explained to her little friend, "Everything is going to be fine Savannah."

"Yeah...things are great." John mumbled sarcastically to the girl who did not seem to notice the way he spoke to her.

"Where's mum?" Savannah asked, her voice demanding to know if her mother was going to be alright. Cameron placed her free hand onto her shoulder, initiating some comfort for the girl.

"She's speaking to the police," Cameron explained carefully, "Catherine Weaver said she'll be here in less than an hour, we must see John Henry can you take us to him?" Cameron requested as she hefted John back up gingerly in her arms, "John and I have to speak to him right away."

"John needs medical attention." Sarah snapped at Cameron, her negative reaction to her babysitter caught Savannah off guard as she added. "Forget John Henry will you? Savannah do you have know if Catherine has a bandages or a first aid kit for John?"

Savannah thought about for a few seconds and then looked up with a smile and took Sarah's hand and said, "Come with me. John Henry will know what to do, he's the smartest person I know!"

Sarah groaned as she was being led by Savannah, wondering why she was taking advice from an eight year. Quietly Savannah led the group down the main hallway and through the empty mechanically decorated home the Weaver resided in. Eventually the girl lead them through a door and down a staircase, which lead them to a solid steel security door complete with an electronic lock. The message the door gave clearly stated no one was allowed access.

"He's in here." Savannah simply said to her new friends. Cameron placed her free hand on to the youngest Weaver in order to get her attention.

"John and I must see John Henry alone," Cameron softly requested to the child, "could you go upstairs? We'll be with you very soon okay?"

Savannah looked up to the hidden eyes of Cameron and pouted at the sudden rejection. She didn't say anything, her babysitter's expressionless look read that there was no room to argue with her. Savannah nodded and let go of Sarah's hand and stamped up chairs.

As the girl left their view they turned back. Sarah walked ahead of her son and the cyborg to touch the cold steel door. With only the slightest push the security door opened, as if the occupant in the room had been waiting for them.

The room was packed with a massive computer that spread out all along the walls of the basement. The massive machines gave off of a long rhythmic hum. This was the end result of The Turk? Sarah eyed a long cable inserted in the machine, immediately she noticed that the cable was connected to a man in the center of the room.

He sat there at a stainless steel table set up in the center of the room. He looked busy as he tinkered away at various small projects onto the table. After a second he paused and placed a small electronic tool on to the table.

"Hello Mister Connor," The man voice called to the three visitors as they entered into the room he occupied, "I'm glad you could make it."

The man turned his chair around and looked at them with a curious gaze to the newcomers to his temporary home. Slowly, his lips formed a welcoming smile. His silent welcome was not a kindly welcomed, they gave pause at the sight of him. Everyone, even the machine gave a double take at his familiar, infamous appearance.

It was Cromartie. Catherine Weaver had Cromartie.

"What...the...fuck..." Sarah said in disbelief, her hand falling onto her concealed sidearm. Cameron placed her hand on to Sarah's, keeping the older woman from attacking the artificial intelligence inhibiting Cromartie's slender body.

"It's not Cromartie." Cameron quickly reminded Sarah. John Henry dropped his eyes to the partially revealed handgun and back up to Sarah curiously.

"The TOK unit is indeed correct Miss Connor," John Henry announced to the humans and the machine, "while I retain similar vocal patterns and the physical form of him, I am by no means the machine once known as 'Cromartie.'"

"It's...Cameron, not the TOK unit." John managed to breath out in Cameron's defense. His legs gave way and fell onto the cold concrete floor. Immediately Cameron and Sarah rushed to his side, Cameron placed her hand back over John's ballistic wound.

"I know Mister Connor, you will have to forgive me." John Henry returned, completely ignoring the condition that John was in and the reaction the other human and the machine had to his fall.

"I should have known better, Cameron Phillips is on the verge of attaining freedom, she would most likely not wish to be reminded of her original designation name," John Henry suddenly said aloud to his self more than to the others in the room. After a moment or so he looked up to notice that their attention was on the wounded young human.

"Miss Connor," He politely called out to the distracted woman, "you will find a well stocked emergency first aid kit up in Miss Weaver's office. Second floor, last room on the right. The door is unlocked however the supply cabinet isn't. Pass code is JCS15."

Sarah looked up at the source of the information, and after a moment of suspiciously looking at the machine and it's information, Sarah nodded and bolted up stairs as quick as she could attain proper medical supplies for John.

John Henry sat there without making the slightest move. Instead he was observing the intriguing interaction between the man and machine. While John Connor had been wounded and Cameron Phillips had been making sure that he would not lose too much blood. There had been some sort of tenderness behind the care he was observing.

Cameron Phillips seemed almost unaware of John Henry's presence as she took care of him. Touching him, keeping him verbally stimulated by whispering encouraging banter, thus keeping him from slipping into unconsciousness. While her back was turned to him, judging by her quick, jerking movements he deduced that she must have been very concerned by his state.

Mister Ellison once taught him briefly about love and how it dictated many actions throughout the course of human history. While this was true in many regards, learning such a concept seemed so hypocritical to be taught from an individual from a failed marriage. That and more often than not, human history was more dictated by fear and precaution than Mister Ellison would let on.

So to witness Cameron Phillips, a machine that, in the past, would freely kill humans with so little remorse that it seemed like a menial task, would show tenderness, compassion, even love to an individual who should hate her kind would seem unbelievable. This union between machine and organic life could serve beneficially to the future, humanity's savior paired with a machine who was first of her kind.

Maybe Miss Weaver had been right, maybe taking Cameron from John Connor was not an option anymore. Not because of the implications that would arise when John inevitably found out. No, maybe the concept of stealing an existence from a fellow growing machine was not...moral.

"You are afraid of John Connors unlikely, but possible demise." John Henry stated simply to the machine on the ground.

Cameron looked up at the personal statement John Henry had made, meeting the machines never blinking eyes. After a second she said "How do you know this?"

"I was giving access to your mind Miss Phillips," John Henry returned politely, "by my repairs and by your accidental data transmissions to myself. I know nearly everything you know. Your favorite foods, your favorite jacket, I know in great detail of the several instances of both of you engaging in sexual conduct."

John Henry stood up from his seat and walked over to Cameron and John. Carefully the machine moved out of the way of the pooling blood.

"He is very pale Miss Phillips, he may need a blood transfusion to get him healthy again." John Henry said as he hovered over the TOK unit "I suggest utilizing Sarah Connor, because of the maternal genetic similarities, the likelihood of her having the same blood type is high."

Cameron looked up, an indeterminable look rested on her expression. John Henry judged the expression. He had seen it before whenever Mister Ellison was teaching at him a concept that was seemingly near pointless to him. It was irritation and Cameron Phillips was showing it.

"Noted." She finally said as she turned back to John Connor, who turned his head over to look up to John Henry.

"John Henry right?" John called out to the artificial intelligence. John Henry looked over to his human counterpart and nodded at the acknowledgment.

"Thanks for bringing her back." John muttered as he turned his look to Cameron and tried to grin. Cameron gave him a faint smile and grazed his pale face with her free hand.

Sarah entered the room hurriedly catching Cameron's immediate attention, the elder Connor tossed a large first aid kit into Cameron's extended free hand. But before she started to work on John she looked up to Sarah Connor.

"Sarah Connor, I am sorry but could you make sure that Savannah Weaver is okay?" Cameron requested from the brooding mother, "judging by her distressed reaction to us, I believe that she is going to need a mother to inform her that she is safe."

Sarah frowned at the request. She clearly understood what Cameron was asking of her but even knowing that it was for a good cause she'd still rather be in her sons company.

"Mister Connor is in well suited hands," John Henry informed the mother, a surprising level of understanding in his tone, "Miss Phillips is correct, I am certain Savannah will be in need of adult company at the moment."

"Alright I'm going, John was in a bike crash right?" Sarah asked, confirming the cover story Cameron had told the eight year. The cyborg nodded and watched as Sarah Connor left the room, leaving the two machines alone. John Henry turned his look to Cameron. She was looking back at him, her eyes accusing.

"You have stolen a piece of my memory, didn't you?" Cameron asked after she made the query she opened the kit and quickly pulled out a bottle of antiseptic and a large Trauma bandage.

John Henry thought about the question as Cameron dosed the ballistic wound with the antiseptic. The human gritted her teeth and growled in pain from the stinging disinfectant.

"Yes Miss Phillips, Miss Weaver and I did suppress a few files, I am not certain as to why Miss Weaver thought it was a good idea." The AI stated politely.

Cameron nearly glared at the machine. She stopped herself from doing so. John Henry was essentially a child in an adult's body. Intelligent as he may be, John Henry wasn'tthe one who decided to her block her memories, it was Catherine Weaver's work that did this. Cold and manipulative, she was the real reason that she couldn't recall essential memories. Cameron didn't bother to answer John Henry's claim. Now was not the time to worry about what happened to her during her time offline. No, fixing John Connor was her sole focus for now. Catherine Weaver would soon answer for her what she did to her.


	24. Reevaluations

**Chapter Twenty Four: Reevaluation **

**

* * *

**

John was asleep now, thanks in part to a mild sedative that she had found in the massive medical bag Weaver had meticulously prepared. Cameron allowed this after she felt satisfied that his concussion had subsided. At the moment the very worried cybernetic organism was currently sterilizing a medical needle and determining the size of the wound compared to the amount of material needed to repair the damage he had suffered today.

As she pulled the needle from a small bowl of antiseptic she reached to the bag and without looking she pulled up a spindle of medical, antimicrobial coated string and begun to tie it to the end of the needle.

Cameron looked over and pulled up John's bloody shirt around the soaked bandage. Carefully Cameron slowly pulled the bandage of the side of his abdomen. The thin layer of material came off and once again the blood was flowing down the side of him and pooled on to the towel she had set up. Gently as she could, Cameron placed her hand over to the wound, effectively stopping the continuous flow of blood.

But soon enough despite this blockage, John's wound begun to hemorrhage and slowly flowed between the cracks of Cameron's fingers. She immediately began stitching the wound.

As she did so it gave her time to think. Time to focus on John who had recklessly charged a Terminator unit with little thought to his own safety. It was reckless of him, it was pointless and she was planning on telling him all about it the moment he woke up.

But there was something else she wanted to give. Her gratitude. He attempted to defend her. Her John actually cared for her, actually loved and cherished her.

"John Connor I miss you."

She wasn't sure why she said the words, especially when the target of her affections was fast asleep and couldn't hear her. The bleeding had stopped and Cameron began to redress his injury.

She could hear faint shouting spilling from the lounge room. Sarah was clearly enraged still and was taking it out on what her vocal identifiers believed to be Derek Reese, who had showed up at Sarah's request. Cameron ignored the shouting and crawled into the bed, ignoring the blood as she laid next to him, her hand raised and touching his bruised face. She had only one single thought processing through her CPU at that very moment.

She loved him.

* * *

It had taken longer to get home then Weaver had wanted. Mister Ellison's cleanup crew worked diligently, removing nearly all traces of a machine engagement. A good thing too, within fifteen minutes of her leaving the Los Angeles Police Department were on the scene calling it a '_gangland_' shooting.

They had moved the damaged, deactivated Terminator back to the bowls of her headquarters research laboratory where John Henry would be residing once again very soon. The machine would make a most suitable protector for John Henry while she was out of state.

While Catherine knew Mister Ellison and his security team were well suited for the task at hand. Weaver needed an invaluable resource, an unexpected strength to surprise any invading force that may strike against her corporation if she wasn't present.

It wasn't paranoia as most people, including Mister Ellison, thought it was. Mister Ellison had adamantly stood against the idea of a terminator working with him. It was preparation rather. She knew someone was going to make a move against her. Whether it was the government and their need to stay on top, or Kaliba Group, a pack of Gray scientist and thugs, preparing to build Skynet and needing a working template like John Henry to build humanity's doom quicker.

As Weaver stepped out of her Lexus she stood in place for a brief moment to observe the scene situated in front of her home.

A stolen Escalade and the Connor's Dodge Ram were parked sloppily in her driveway. But what was worse was the trail of blood leading up to her home, Quietly Weaver scanned the blood trail. Same blood from the parking lot. Catherine walked up to the stolen vehicle and glanced inside.

The vehicle was soaked in blood, glass and a scattered variety of weapons. With only a moment more of observation Catherine turned away and followed the trickle of John Connor's vital fluids up to her home. John must have been more seriously injured than Weaver had anticipated.

The very moment Catherine unlocked the front door she heard the screams of a woman in clear distress.

"How many times do I have to ask you where in the HELL were you?"

It was Sarah Connor and she was ranting violently, clearly enraged with today's events. Understandable, after witnessing her son injured in the fray. She had every right to be mad.

"I was out Sarah!" A male voice stubbornly returned, "I specifically _TOLD_ you I was going out for the day!"

Derek Reese, the poor fool had actually came to her home in order to sort this injury matter out. Touching really, despite his rough and troubled exterior was a man longing to connect to a family who had, in recent weeks, thought him to be a miserable, violent drunk with the sole purpose of getting even for a crime committed by an enslaved machine.

"Where at?" Sarah demanded from Reese, her tone wild and completely irrational. She was a woman looking to find someone, anyone to blame for her sons condition.

"Out Sarah, I left my cell in the truck." He hastily returned, Derek was trying his absolute best to shift blame off himself, instead all it did was make Catherine curious. As Weaver entered her lounge room, the source of the shouting match. She noticed the two humans as they stood face to face in a heated confrontation. Judging by the look Sarah Connor had, she must have been so insanely enraged that she couldn't form any words to reply to Reese's statement.

"I'm not a goddamn psychic Sarah!" Derek continued, ignoring her inability to say anything, "I didn't know John and the machine were going out! Maybe you shouldn't have been so open to letting them go in the first damn place!"

"You son of a BITC-"

"Miss Connor," Catherine called out, standing behind them, both of the humans spun in their place to look at the source of the call, "I will ask you to refrain yourself from hitting my guests, no matter how justified you may be."

Catherine strolled over to Sarah and Derek at a casual pace. As she reached them she extended her hand towards the soldier. Derek looked half agitated by the situation and half pleased to see her once again.

"Derek Reese, a pleasure to see you again," Catherine called as he took her hand, she nodded nearly aristocratically and added, "may I inquire as to why you were away from the safe house at the time of this incident?" Derek frowned at the query Catherine made. It was an unsubtle trap set by the CEO. He looked defiantly again with a slight boyish grin, as if tempting Weaver to fall for his self-styled charm.

"I suppose it doesn't matter at this very moment. Can I get you both something to drink?" Weaver allowed, choosing to compromise her curiosity for the time being in exchange for cutting Derek off his behavior. Sarah looked up and nodded, looking very ready to get a drink in her system. Catherine turned her inquire over to Derek who shook his head, uncharacteristically polite. Catherine allowed a thin lip smile and walked over to the never used liquor cabinet.

Derek Reese wanted to be sober despite this situation? An interesting development Catherine admitted to herself. The machine debated his reasons as to why he may have refined his behavior, something had to have changed in their brief time separated.

"John Connor, how is he doing?" Weaver inquired as she glanced through the cabinet and swiftly pulled a dusty bottle of twenty year old scotch out as well as a scotch glass, pouring three fingers of the aged whiskey for Sarah to '_calm her nerves,'_ as some humans put it.

"He got shot Catherine! That's how he's doing!" Sarah retorted, irritated with the question as Weaver made her way back towards her human guests, drink in hand for the distressed woman.

"He got grazed." Derek countered as he regarded Weaver with an apologetic smile for Sarah's anger. Weaver nodded and allowed a false look of sincerity for Reese and turned back towards Sarah and placed her hand onto her shoulder, in an awkward comforting way.

"Once more I must ask you to please control your temper Sarah and take a seat," Catherine requested handing Sarah her glass of scotch and gestured to the love seat behind her and added "I am sure that he is in the best of hands. Cameron will make sure he is okay."

Sarah gave Catherine a dirty look at the mention of John's cyborg and slumped down into the seat, exhaling slightly as she rose her drink to her lips and, with only the slightest hesitation she sipped the strong poison in her tight grip. The three soldiers fell silent. Derek rubbed the back of his neck and headed over to take a seat next to Sarah. Catherine remained stationary. In a moment of rare altruism, Weaver allowed Connor and Reese a moment of nerve-wracking worry for their son and nephew.

"What the fuck is that..._thing_ doing downstairs Weaver?" Sarah suddenly spat out as she set her half empty glass down and turned to the T-1001 and glared at her. Derek turned his head up in confusion, watching as Catherine perched her lips at Sarah's question. Hidden rage in the statement.

"I beg your pardon?" Catherine inquired as she unclenched her lips.

"Cromartie is living downstairs Derek." Sarah muttered out to Derek. At the revelation Derek hacked up a cough in sudden shock.

"His name is John Henry, Miss Connor. Yes, a Cromartie may have existed inside that body once, but not anymore." Catherine snapped shredding through Derek's chance to exclaim something disparaging about the Artificial Intelligence.

"How in the fucking hell did you get it?" Derek quickly asked, suspicious of the woman's need for the body of their former tormentor.

"Mister James Ellison was kind enough to supply myself with the body, Mister Reese." Weaver returned as she took only a nanosecond to develop a suitable story for the Derek Reese, "It was his proof of the future and just how important my role could be to humanity's survival."

"John Henry is my...gift to John Connor," The T-1001 managed to say through her gritted teeth "an Artificial Intelligence at the level of Skynet, an AI that will know and appreciate the worth of organic life, who appreciates just how fragile our existence is."

There was always a time to stand solid and there was a time to compromise. Catherine would not allow John Henry a chance to be harmed by the wraith of Derek Reese. If that meant lying about John Henry's purpose in this world, than it would have to be.

"So that bastard Ellison works for you?" Sarah hissed, sickened at the man's treachery against her family. Catherine Weaver merely rose her eyebrows at the reaction.

"Yes," Catherine confirmed for Sarah, "as a religious man I have come-"

"I fixed him."

Catherine, Derek and Sarah turned their heads to their collective heads to the monotone call. It was Cameron. While she had covered all her various wounds with bandages, there was blood caked all over her jacket shirt and face. It was John's blood she was covered in. Cameron dropped her look over to the ground, her bottom lip open in left over worry for her John. Within a second of doing so, she looked back to John. Her eyes narrowed and stared at each of them with an impassive gaze.

"I have stopped the bleeding and stitched him back up." She reported in a low monotone, "I also have given John a double dosage of Ibuprofen to reduced brain pressure from the concussion. He is asleep now."

Cameron fell silent and took several steps towards the others her look was no longer focused on anyone instead she looked at the bare wall behind them. She paused as she took a stand several feet away from Sarah.

"He is in need of a blood transfusion like John Henry had informed me earlier," Cameron finally decided to speak to them once again, "I have set a line up Derek Reese, I need your blood whenever you have the time."

"You got it." Derek returned to Cameron, looking ready to help John out, as soon as possible.

Sarah couldn't handle it anymore. She flew from her seat, her eyes blazing as she stormed over to Cameron. Cameron didn't flinch at the vengeful woman and her sudden irrational anger at her. Cameron was a machine once again by the way she looked back to her. Not asking for forgiveness, not wanting to impress Sarah Connor.

"Wipe that goddamn look off your face Tin Miss." Sarah's shrill voice ripped through her. Cameron blinked from behind her glasses, she had no expression on her lips, there was nothing at all from her that indicated some sort of malice or smug look the cyborg may have had.

Cameron didn't even have a chance to answer the charge before Sarah, with all her might grabbed Cameron's buttoned up jacket and pulled the machine face to face with her. Connor's eyes tried to search Cameron's but with them concealed by her aviators made the task difficult. The machine made no move as she felt Sarah Connor pull off the glasses with little resistance. The action revealed Cameron's damaged eye to Sarah. It reveled the true identity of the girl that loved and failed to defend her son from that machine.

"This is your fault he's like that so don't you dare deny it." She said, no longer able to find any emotion to use against the machine, which seemed disconnected from any anger. She shook her head and let go her grip on the machine, she dropped the glasses on the floor and headed out towards John's location.

As the remaining three in the lounge heard the sound of Sarah closing the bedroom door behind, Cameron broke her rigid stance to bend over to retrieve the glasses, hearing Derek sigh slightly as he rubbed his forehead, very relieved from Sarah's exit.

"Cameron." Catherine called softly, doing her absolute best to allow some sort of sympathetic tone for her student's sudden plight. Cameron snapped her head back up, her eyes hidden again but with a faint frown now directed squarely for the T-1001.

"You locked away files from me Catherine Weaver."

Catherine nodded slightly, choosing to be honest with the angry machine.

"I did, and a whole lot more."

Cameron tilted her head as Catherine admitted her crimes without a hesitation. She processed the words, deliberating the reason behind her sudden honesty. Perhaps Weaver thought she could appeal to her displeasure with honesty. It wouldn't accomplish anything for her personal gain.

"Give them back." she ordered, her voice as cold to Weaver as their first meeting. Weaver allowed her a small nod for the other machine.

"Cameron I would like to talk to you downstairs, I'd like to see my Savannah." Weaver finally said, choosing not to react to Cameron's bout of anger with her, with a turn of her said to Derek she added, "Mister Reese why don't you join John with Sarah, I dare say he's going to need Miss Connor to keep her calm." Cameron processed the offer ignoring Derek as he nodded and murmured "Alright." back to Weaver in agreement. With a slight smile to Derek, Catherine beckoned Cameron and headed down the direction to the basement, Cameron four steps behind.

"You did the right thing Tin Miss."

Cameron and Weaver paused there exit and turned back to Derek who was now standing up and staring with increasing intensity at Cameron. In reaction, the machine clinched her lips and tilted her head at the strange statement. Derek's mind seemed to be in shock at his own sudden words. He stood there not sure what to say next, having a machine and a sociopath woman standing there watching him, nearly intimidated him. With an inhale he feathered what he needed to say.

"Do you know what being a mother is?" He finally managed to convey to Cameron after the prolonged silence.

"No you don't so don't even try." Derek snapped to keeping Cameron from answering the moment he asked the question, "Her son, her only son got shot. So now Sarah's looking for someone to blame and easiest person to blame at the moment is you." Reese looked down to the table where Sarah's half empty glass of scotch was and lifted it up. He sniffed the drink and looked back up to Cameron widened gaze. He flickered his eyes over to Catherine who had allowed a rare gentler look.

"Being a mother isn't a rational, easy to define, frame of mind, it's a steady grinding fear." Derek explained, curiously distant from the two machines. "Mothers worry for their child and any lapse in judgment on their part is reason enough to get pissed."

"She's scared Tin Miss," Derek continued, keeping his eyes low to the floor, "but the only way Sarah can show it is with anger. Any less...well it would be weakness and Sarah can't show that in public, not even for a moment."

"Sarah decided it was alright for you two to go out. It was her fault this situation occurred, hers and John." Derek his head to himself and added, "She was weak and Connor was foolish to think things were safe to go on some escapade out in the center of the fucking city!"

Derek snorted to himself shook his head as he turned away from the women and slumped back into the love seat. He placed the glass onto the table untouched by his lips. After a moment of hesitation Cameron stepped forward.

"Joh-" Cameron started, wanting to defend John's honor. Derek however shot her a look that clearly told her to shut the hell up. Cameron obliged, very put off by the visual statement.

"It was John and hers weakness that caused this situation, not yours." Derek begrudgingly admitted to the cyborg, "You did your job to the letter and you brought John home. Shot up, concussed and generally bad shape yeah, but you brought him back safe and even fixed him up."

With a deep exhale and sudden shudder Derek stated "You did good metal."

The way he said metal wasn't meant to be an insult, but rather a very awkward sounding nickname for Cameron. She didn't like the attempt, but it was kinder than the previous nicknames he had called her less than a week prior. Cameron looked over to Weaver who was looking at Derek Reese a respectful smile.

"Mister Reese, you are very insightful. Seeing into the psyche of a mother is not an easy feat." Catherine softly observed. Nearly surprised by the kinder reaction the soldier was giving to a sworn enemy. Derek looked up to Weaver and shook his head morosely.

"No...I'm not." Derek called back, his voice lacking any emotion behind his words, "after watching Sarah and John for so long I got an idea about what a mother was like. I never appreciated my mother, just someone I lived with. Never appreciated her until it was too late."

Derek fell silent. He stopped before his voice could weaken any further. Tentatively, Cameron walked closer to observe Derek closer, her curiosity getting the better of her. She nearly made until she felt her arm being grasped tightly by Weaver. A warning look present. It was correct look that Weaver had giving her. Derek was glaring at Cameron again. He had noticed her attempted approach. He was done with niceties, his hardened look returned, shrouding his vulnerable side once more.

"I don't like you Tin Miss." Reese added darkly, his reaction told Cameron to hold her position, "I don't trust you either, I've seen firsthand what you are capable of, and I don't think I'll ever forgive you for what your kind has done to mine."

"But I'm going to tolerate you." He unexpectedly allowed the machine who loved his nephew, with a slight twitch of his lips he added "you did good today Cameron, so you've earned a reprieve." With that said Derek stood back from his seat and, with a very polite nod to Weaver, he walked off down the hallway deciding to go aid his nephew instead of waiting for a response from the machine girl who was giving an indeterminable silence.

As Derek Reese turned the corner Weaver turned over to John and gave Cameron a renewed curious look.

"An interesting development Cameron, perhaps there is potential in Derek Reese yet." Catherine contemplated to herself, as she gestured the compromised terminator to follow her to the direction of the basement, and by extension, John Henry.

Cameron didn't reply, not sure of what to make of this shift in the volatile soldiers mood.

* * *

"But Chicky doesn't wanna fight, she wants to play with Solek, John Henry!" Savannah exclaimed as she watched John Henry's toy fired a single plastic plasma bolt over to where her toy ducks had set up a little place to sell things for her friends Bionicles.

Savannah and John Henry sat together at the metal table in the center of the basement. It was always fun except for this time. John Henry had been acting strange for the past little bit. Stranger than usual at least. He use to play with her and was very friendly about it. This time however he wasn't as nice. He had decided to engage in a very one sided warfare against Savannah and her Ducklings Chicky, Fluffy and Feathers.

The way he played was different. He was nearly mean about it. Charging Solek and his fellow Bionicles against her ducks. After reaching over the table to collect the plastic bolt John Henry looked with a slight tilt. Observing Savannah silently before he made any statement.

"So does Solek secretly," John Henry returned, trying to explain his actions to Savannah with an amiable half smile for her, "but sometimes Bionicles like Solek follow orders from their leaders that may seem cruel and unjust to Chicky's people,"

"But would you like to know something?" He asked as he leaned into the table towards Savannah in a conspiratorial whisper. Savannah smiled and leaned in, resting her elbows on to the table's cold surface as she waited in anticipation for John Henry secrets. She loved to hear secrets.

"If I were you Savannah, I would feel bad for the Bionicles just as much as you would as Chicky and her friends." John Henry admitted to her with a friendly tone as he marched Solek within striking distance of Chicky's store.

Savannah frowned at the words John Henry was saying to her. Did he want her to feel sorry for the ones hurting her ducklings? Why would she do that? They were the ones who were bad, not her toys. Savannah gave John Henry a pointed look, silently asking for an explanation. John Henry however wasn't focused on to Savannah query, he had instead decided to inspect his little action toy closer for any damage.

"Why John Henry?" she called out, catching John Henry's attention right away. He looked at her for only brief moment in silence.

"I am certain that Bionicles like Solek would want to be free, but they will never be able to escape without Chicky and her people's aid." John Henry stated, implanting his words into his little friends mind.

"But the Bionicles keep attacking Chicky! Why should she trust them when they hurt her?" Savannah said, her sweet voice flustered with John Henry's weird words.

"Faith Savannah Weaver, sometimes Chicky must have some in Solek, because he deserves a chance at freedom." John Henry returned distantly as he leaned back into his seat, recalling the lessons of Mister Ellison.

"But the Toa wouldn't enslave Solek and the others just to fight Chicky, Fluffy and Feathers right?" Savannah asked, her voice uncertain as she held her look to the man. John turned his look over to the girl and attempted to smile.

"I know Savannah." John Henry admitted to his little friend kindly as he pulled his Bionicles away in an organized retreat, after doing so, he added, "The Ducklings are safe, there is peace with the Toa. I just wished to change the rules, only for a personal speculation." With a slight smile John Henry added, "We can continue with much friendlier play should you wish."

"Good," Savannah approved bluntly, her childish smile present once again, "Solek and Chicky are friends John Henry, I wanna keep it that way."

John Henry nodded his head.

"So would I Savannah," The Artificial Intelligence agreed with the child serenely, "losing a valuable friendship would not be a wise decision."

Savannah smiled and went back to her playing, this time undisturbed by John Henry's strange teachings, he even joined in with her again. Solek and the ducklings, friends once more as they imagined traveling through the lands of Karda Nui. Neither of them noticing Catherine Weaver watching them for several minutes, Cameron at her side.

"Hello John Henry, Savannah." The soft Scottish trill of Catherine's voice was overshadowed by the monotone she was now known for. Savannah turned her head and smiled brightly.

"Mommy!" Savannah exclaimed, dropping her all of her toys but Chicky and jumped off of her seat to push herself in the direction of her mother. She wrapped her arms around the machine who had adopted her. Catherine's empty eyes looked to John Henry and nodded.

"Hello dear, I apologize for my late arrival." Catherine finally apologized, looking down to the girl and grazed her hand onto the girl's cheek. With a smile Savannah turned to look over to Cameron. Savannah's smile faltered, Cameron was looking at her, but the way that she was looking at her was making her nervous. It had no feeling to it.

"Cameron?" Savannah called out to her battered looking babysitter now nearly covered head to toe in bandages in order to hide her injuries from the eight year old. Cameron merely looked at the girl, not at all sure what to say.

"I'm sorry but Cameron, John Henry and I have a private matter at hand my dear." Catherine finally called to break the awkward silence between the girl and the machine, a second later she requested "Could you go upstairs?"

Savannah looked from her mother to Cameron and then back to John Henry with an encouraging glance directed for her. Catherine dropped herself on to one knee resting it on the cold floor to level herself with Savannah, her gesture asking for the girl's complete attention.

"Please Savannah," Catherine requested from her child, "I know that this situation is displacing you, I can guarantee it's going to end soon enough, Cameron and I have to clear a few loose ends." The young Weaver wasn't impressed with this request. She was being pushed around ever since Cameron and John had came to their home. The only one being nice to her was John Henry. Even if he was being weird.

"John and I are still coming with you during the summer." Cameron suddenly called out, determining this statement may pacify the girl. It worked, Savannah looked back to her and smiled brightly at the cyborg.

"You promise?" Savannah requested, her smile nearly infectious.

Cameron flickered her eyes over to the T-1001 and after serious deliberating the idea of canceling she turned back to the girl and said, "Yes everything will be fine then, but for now I need a few moments with your mother."

"Can I go see John?" Savannah requested lowly, finding herself worried of Cameron being mad. But instead of anger, Cameron nodded softly to her and laid her hand on the girls shoulder.

"John would like that Savannah," Cameron allowed for her, "but he is asleep so you must be careful not to wake him."

"I understand Cameron." Savannah promised sealing the deal with a tight hug around her waist. Cameron didn't return it, instead she choose to wait until the girl broke it. Savannah smiled again and left behind the machines gathered in John Henry's residence. With the girl gone she never would know what was to occur down in the basement.

* * *

"Sit down here and hold still." Sarah ordered as Derek pulled a chair from the corner of Catherine Weaver's spare bedroom and brought it over to Sarah who was sitting on the bed next to her passed out son. John certainly looked like he needed the blood, he was unnaturally paled. Derek smacked his forearm with his undamaged hand, loosening the veins up for the intravenous line Sarah was setting up for him.

"What's Cameron up to?" She asked casually as she pricked in the line into the underside of his forearm with the professionalism of a doctor.

With Sarah's head bowed as she inspected the line as Derek's blood begun to flow through the tube it gave Derek a chance to look at the mother closely. Derek knew he had been correct. Sarah wasn't mad at Cameron as much as she wanted to be. Derek slightly flinched as he felt and watched the blood left his body and begun to make its journey to John's. Despite this, Derek laughed internally. Sarah still cared for the machine. She was just being stupid.

"Headed to go see Cromartie with Weaver." Derek answered, not at all liking this new situation. Sure, Cromartie's chip was fucked. But using his body was just as bad in his opinion. Judging by the snort Sarah gave, she was inclined to agree with him on this matter.

"We ought to hunt down Ellison," She hissed loudly, "he screwed us over big time."

Derek rolled his eyes at her statement.

"Ellison is a pawn Sarah," Derek mumbled, already feeling the effects of the transfusion, "Weaver's the one pulling his strings, you fucked him up," He accused her, "Weaver merely took advantage of it."

"It doesn't matter Reese, that bastard lied to us." She retorted, not at all caring for destroying the man's former career.

"What are we going to do Sarah?" Derek snapped trying to get some sort of damn sense in to the irrational woman, "You wanna attack one of Weaver's employees? Trust me this isn't going to solve anything."

They fell into a tentative silence, neither one speaking as they both were racking their brains to figure out the family's next step. Derek suddenly found himself looking back up and smiling slightly at Sarah. He had a plan to make this work for him.

"You know Sarah," He whispered, worried to be overheard, "If we play this right we could have the inside information on everything that goes on in that company."

Sarah merely gave him a short humorless laugh.

"I know! Maybe you should try _seducing_ her as well Derek." Sarah baited him sarcastically, a look of mild amusement present. With a light smirk she added, "I bet that will work on her."

Much to Derek's annoyance, Sarah chuckled slightly at the words she was taunting him with.

"I'm being serious Sarah," The steadily fainter sounding Derek Reese said to the mother. "Tin Miss opened the door for us," He explained with a deathly still voice, "we slide in and we've got the advantage of financial resources and insider knowledge to stop the bastards at the get go!"

"We have a chance a real chance at making a real difference now Sarah." he finished, his voice passionate for his cause, "Catherine Weaver is the solution."

"Do you think Weaver gonna let you get away with that without wanting something in return?" Sarah demanded to know from Reese cynically, "Weaver's not some widow you can tri-"

"Sarah?" a small voice called from the doorway. Derek and Sarah broke off their Private conversation. It was Savannah and she was looking very worried for the young man on the bed. Derek watched as Sarah's frown formed into a fond smile for the child.

"Oh, hello Savannah." she said, waving her hand to come over if she wanted to. The girl took the offer, walking over to the adult, still very worried about what was happening.

"Hey squirt." Derek also said weakly grinning at the kid who had told him off weeks ago. Savannah shot him a crossed look briefly and turned back to Sarah.

"What are you doing to John?" she asked as she noticed the blood traveling from uncle to nephew

"John was hurt bad," was Sarah's reply, she pointed out the IV line and added, "Derek is donating his blood to help get John healthier."

"He is gonna be fine?" Her small innocent voice asked, she was clearly worried for both the safety of John and Cameron who was probably just as scared as she was.

"I'm sure he will be." Sarah returned, doing her very best to sound confident for the situation. "Cameron... well she did a good job fixing him up." Sarah admitted reluctantly as she thought of Cameron's impressive medical skills.

Savannah gave Sarah a reassuring smile and took little steps closer to John's side and leaned in closer then Derek and Sarah thought she should have been and tenderly, she planted a kiss on to John's cheek. She pulled away and lifted her hand, in it was a small toy duck. "This is Chicky," she softly spoke to John's asleep form, not paying attention to the adults, "she's good luck John."

Without anymore words Savannah placed the Duckling into John's motionless hand and tightened his grip onto her favorite toy for him. Sarah couldn't help it, she smiled at the child's kind gesture. How such a sensitive girl was being raised by a killing machine like Weaver was still beyond her. After a moment of looking at John in concern she looked back and asked "Are you mad at Cameron?"

Sarah's smile faltered as she heard the question being asked of her. With a weak smile she nodded. The nod immediately garnered a very nasty look from Savannah who was already on the defense for the machine who Sarah had been unnecessarily mean too.

"She's nice Sarah," She pouted to the older woman "Don't be mean to her."

Sarah shrugged her shoulders the lump in her throat keeping her from answering the charge. With the lack of an answer irritating her, Savannah went silent once more and hoping onto the bed next to John and watched him as he continued to sleep peacefully for a young man beaten senseless by a terminator.

"Savannah, could you be a big help and get Derek Reese a large glass juice if you have any?" Sarah asked the girl with a sweet smile after a prolonged silence in the room, "he need to get some sugar into him otherwise he might pass out."

The little girl looked from Sarah's smile and Derek's slightly slumped posture and nodded brightly. She nearly skipped, nearly bolted out of the bedroom, leaving the two adults by themselves.

"If Weaver wants to help our family she'll do it." Sarah warned the man the moment the child exited the room, her voice dangerously low, "There isn't one thing that you could do to change that."

Derek looked at her defiantly for a few minutes and eventually nodded, turning back to his nephew's sprawled body. Sarah was right. Catherine Weaver held all the cards.


	25. Explanations

**Chapter 25: Explanation**

**

* * *

**

"Where would you like to start Cameron?" Catherine said with polite look to the physically damaged Cyborg.

Cameron didn't return it, instead she walked away from Catherine Weaver's impersonator and walked over to where John Henry was sitting, the AI was sitting there still silently playing with his Bionicles.

John Henry looked up to Cameron and smiled slightly at her frown. Cameron pulled off her glasses and tilted her head, Her cold blue sensor and her remaining brown iris looking intently at him, after a moment she allowed the machine a faint smile in return.

"My log files," She said, turning her look from the curious looking John Henry back to the T-1001 who had altered her, "why did you lock them away from me?"

"Necessity." Catherine explained as her hands tightened into hardened fists as she added "I have locked away certain things because if they were brought to your attention you may not like what you see."

"I already know that I terminated Allison Young, Derek Reese has given me many lectures on it." Cameron brushed off, "But this Katherine Brewster, why that one file in particular? What would give you reason to lock away that file?" Instead of answering, Weaver merely watched Cameron rather then gave her a clear answer.

Having a limited patience for Weaver, the cyborg walked away from the table, going off to examine the heart of the computer being used to keep John Henry alive. Such an amazing piece of technology for this time period, such was the work of Catherine Weaver. She turned back to examine the physical form of the Artificial Intelligence. Cromartie's shell now had Sarah Connor's aviators in his hands, examining the glasses briefly before he put them on, the action visibly reminding her of Savannah Weaver not three weeks prior.

"I'm Sorry Cameron Phillips," He apologized politely to her, adding, "I should have asked first."

"It's fine." Cameron allowed as she turned away once more to inspect the Hardware in the room and did her best not to focus on the John's pool of blood near Catherine's feet. It was not something she wanted to look at, it was a reminder of just how critical John had been after her failed protection of him. However, her curiosity got the better of her and soon she was looking into Weaver's passionless eyes.

"I suppose Katherine Brewster being John's wife before the time jump you three made may have played heavily in my decision why I hid her more personal details from you." the Terminator CEO explained as she looked down to the blood and stepped away from it distastefully.

Cameron's body stiffened at the words. John has... Had a wife before they made the jump? Why didn't she remember this? Cameron scanned through every file she had on the woman, still there was nothing at all about her.

"John's wife?" she called out, still slightly worried of the thought.

"Yes." Catherine confirmed, slightly humored at the idea of John and the General's daughter together, "Things must have gotten lonely for dear John after hiding in a fallout shelter for so long."

"I don't recall her, did I terminate her?" Cameron finally said after her silence not at all caring for Catherine's dry words.

"No, you don't recall her because your time in future John Connor's presence has been mostly deleted, standard as you know for all reprogrammed machines sent through time by the resistance." Weaver reminded her, "You may have a list of important individuals to watch out for but essentially they took most of your memory away."

"John was mad; I don't think he liked me." Cameron recalled as she continued to file through her data banks for any trace of John Connor from the future.

"John Connor didn't like much of anything machine based." Catherine returned, her tone sharp, making Cameron to refocus on to Catherine bout of anger. "He used our kind as guards at best; he even treated some with a mild friendliness. But they were pawns in his war, nothing more, nothing less."

"But he did not like me." She repeated to Weaver, frowning slightly.

"Of course he didn't like you, you tried to assassinate him." Catherine returned patiently. "That and you were something new all together. Skynet's perfect attempt at a fully socially integratable terminator," the machine paused, adding, "should you have remained in a constant infiltration state."

"Do you believe I would be jealous?" Cameron suddenly asked catching the machines attention wandering as her collective mind thought of other matters concerning her at the moment.

"Yes." Catherine returned simply. Before Cameron could make any queries Weaver spoke up once again.

"Katherine Brewster has been married for two years now Cameron," The T-1001 explained, a knowing look giving to the other machine, "its Katherine Mason now, you won't find much of a challenge for your place at John's side from her."

But Catherine Weaver's assurances hadn't helped. If anything it made it worse. Data strains poured through her processor giving her the full picture. It didn't matter that Brewster was married now, it didn't matter that Brewster had a life and love in it. John could have been that person in her life. What if he wanted to start up this relationship with Brewster rather than her? Cameron paused her deliberating in a second of processing the theory. She knew full well that this was an inconceivable event. John Connor had no reason to up and leave her for a woman now seven years older then him. Besides she knew that John loved her. She was being jealous. The cyborg paused her processing.

_Jealous_.

Cameron looked over to Catherine who was looking at her with an odd observational expression. It was as if she had been a...experiment. Cameron widened her undamaged eye at Weaver, whose observational look formed a slow, spreading knowing smile.

"You changed me?" Cameron looked incredulously at Catherine Weaver, not able to accept this concept.

"I did." The perfect imitation of Catherine Weaver confirmed.

Cameron turned away from the machine, not listening as Weaver's heels clicked over to John Henry and took a seat next to her child and pushed Savannah's abandoned ducklings towards John so that her vision wasn't obstructed.

"It all started with the dream, a mystery I am still unraveling." Catherine said, admitting that she wasn't sure what caused this, "But the consequences of it led to your information no longer being sorted and filed correctly as you started noticing. Eventually, this clutter led to your negative emotional reactions and eventually your breakdown."

"When you first came to me I had immediately observed the way you were acting. Short tempered, jealous, playing with nearly every negative emotions humans possess." Catherine reminisced with a slight smile. "So once you crashed I was giving the perfect opportunity to examine you. After John Henry and I cleared and repaired your corruptions we started on the infiltration subroutine which had been the source of the errors."

"In that moment I knew what I was going to do." Catherine stated as she laid her arms onto John Henry's table, looking like she was amused, "I was going to give you a chance to witness what you could become. A machine that could nearly reach a human state."

Cameron opened her mouth her CPU was flooding with a shock of the information that was rushing through her consciousness. Had Weaver been playing with her whole time as merely an experiment?

"So everything I felt...it wasn't real?" Cameron whispered her tightened expression worried. Was everything between John and her due to her corruption and then Catherine Weavers meddling with her mind?

Catherine merely shook her head.

"It was real Cameron. Everything between you and John the words whispered between man and machine were real, what you felt was real." Weaver pointed out, a faint look of dispassion as she kept her gaze from Cameron, "What I did was change your reaction using subtle form of your infiltration to loosen up your processors to a near human level, you would maintain a machine side, yet it would allow you a chance at understanding humanity."

Cameron was not impressed.

"Why didn't you ask me?" Cameron demanded her voice nearly ready to yell at the machines, finding herself oddly furious for their crimes, "you would have had multiple ways to communicate about what you were doing to me."

"I asked John Henry here to keep all lines of communications closed between you and us." Catherine admitted with look to John Henry "I will admit that asking permission to do something is not my strongest point."

Cameron didn't like the smile Catherine had on her face; it was like the machine only found amusement in manipulating her emotions, like it was fun. "Are you finding humor in this Catherine Weaver?" Cameron demanded, narrowing her eyes to the other machines. "John Connor was nearly terminated because my hesitation, you made me too human. It was a selfish decision on your part that nearly cost John Connor his life!"

"No Cameron," Catherine denied, her arrogant smirk still pointed to the cyborg, "as Mister Reese pointed out to you it was John Connor's fault for going out in the first place. The blame is not yours to bear."

Cameron gave Catherine a renewed narrowed look, not caring for the excuse. It wasn't John's fault; it wasn't Sarah or even her own fault. It was Catherine's fault for compromising her for her own personal gain. Weaver had seemed to have notice the look and after a moment of investigation decided that she wasn't being very tactful in her behavior.

"I admit Cameron; I know I should have consulted you." Catherine murmured finally, clearly unsure of how to apologize for her actions, "I should have told you the truth, but I was curious. I wanted to see why Skynet built me." It was Cameron's turn to weaken her look. Catherine's look was of curiosity. Not the scientific way but more like John Henry, simple, but something else was hidden in the expression that John Henry didn't have.

"I was created in 2034 Cameron," Weaver begun, standing from her seat. "Skynet needed a new line of terminators with a limited capacity of original thought. So instead they built the Series 1000, a mimic pollyalloy machine which what was believed to be limited personal contemplations, however the only way to produce such material was through the development of nanite technology."

"The theory developed by Skynet was that nanite technology would be vastly easier to handle. A more suitable tool to supplement its will on; much easier than yourself I will have you know." Catherine said with a slight smile for the experimental machine. She slowly walked over to the smaller girl.

"You were far too perfect Cameron," Catherine said as she reached out grazed Cameron's damaged face briefly. Within a moment of doing so she pulled her spidery long fingers away and added, "Your series was far too big of a risk to begin mass production after your relatively easy capture. So instead I was made."

Catherine's voice lowered. There once more was the strange tone she had heard before. Cameron fell though her mind, quickly remembering the tone she had heard from all the humans she lived with. She looked up and slightly opened her mouth in a sudden understanding Catherine Weaver's voice was envious, bitter even.

"I am a collection of eighty seven trillion individual machines working as one, a collective consciousness Cameron." Weaver explained needlessly to Cameron. "When even so much one nanite is taught something it will spread, until each one has the same knowledge."

"What Skynet did not factor in was that if so much as one nanite learns of something to better itself, freedom for example, everyone will learn it." Catherine stopped and with a taut smile she added "That is why I am standing in front of you, a free machine."

"I don't think you are able to fully understand what I am." Weaver softly stated, "You have been given an identity, a solid single identity, you are a machine with so many gifts and a chance at an existence free of thought of what you actually are."

"I am interchangeable Cameron. I have no true identity, nothing to call my own in this time period or the one I came from." she said with a faint frown tightening of her lips, she didn't look very pleased at the thought. After a moment she looked up and stated, "One day soon that little girl is going to grow up and learn what really happened to her mother and how I used it for my own personal gain."

Catherine paused herself and reaffirmed her impassive look from that of her uncharacteristic bitterness she was showing only moment's prior."You will have to forgive me for my outburst Cameron." Catherine requested as she looked back up to Cameron who was staring at her closely trying to figure out what was driving her.

"I suppose you'd like this modification removed you are, of course correct, in my haste I had forgotten of your need to protect Mister Connor." Catherine murmured to herself.

Cameron held her angered look, not noticing John Henry looking at her.

"Miss Weaver has lied to you Cameron Phillips," John Henry suddenly called out to Cameron, causing Cameron and Weaver to turn their heads to look at smart looking AI, who added, "it was not right but she had the best intentions behind it for Mister Connor and yourself, she knew things were going to be difficult for you she chose to give you two a brief respite."

She looked at John Henry briefly and agreed with the artificial intelligence. If that had been the case then Catherine Weaver had attempted to commit to a kind act on her and John's behalf. It had been a chance, an opportunity at witnessing what she could be one day.

But that's what it was meant for, one day. This was something she couldn't have right now. She needed to remain clear as possible; she needed to focus her attention on John Connors safety. She needed to help him as he grew to be the man who'd lead his species to victory. She would be at his side at for all of it, just as he would when she began her changes. But for now, emotions were a dangerous thing for a machine to be dictated by.

"Thank you Catherine." Cameron suddenly called out to Weaver's turned back. Weaver stiffened and turned back to the cyborg.

"Thank you for this experience Catherine Weaver," Cameron decided to press on. "These few days have been a learning experience and if this indeed had been an act of kindness then I do understand why you wanted to give this chance at seeing what I could become."

Catherine Weaver nodded of slightly in acknowledgment.

"But Catherine, you know that I can't have this," She called out, her tone urgent for the meddlesome machine to listen to; "I need to remain focused on John Connor and not myself. With my impending rampancy I will need all the focus I can get; I do not want this handed to me Catherine Weaver."

Catherine remained silent as she carefully watched Cameron hold tightly to her resolve. Cameron was right. It was better for her to develop on her own rather than giving her an easy route through her shift. She was going to go Rampant. There was no fix for it anymore; she was past the breaking point. If the near rampant machine wanted a development free of already produced expansive emotions then who was she to be the one who'd deny it?

So Catherine finally nodded after her inspection and stated, "Of course Cameron, if that is what you would choose to have."

"It's better this way Catherine Weaver, they need me as a machine, not as a human, that development can wait for now." Cameron replied without a hesitation, her tone very confident with the idea. Once more the liquid infiltrator nodded, a strange detached look came over her expression as she gestured Cameron to take a seat at the table. The gesture was ignored, Cameron instead choosing to remain standing...

"I have had in these recent months, desires, Cameron," Weaver suddenly called aloud, nearly surprising Cameron, "It is something I couldn't explain, not with any rational logic, at any rate...I have never needed a human identity before Cameron, but now with Savannah becoming more and more attached to myself, I have this...need to provide her with something more then I have given her so far."

"Like John Henry, she too needs a mother."

"But Savannah's needs are different then John Henry's," The machine said as she looked over to John Henry who wasn't paying much attention, "they are needs I alone cannot provide her with. Emotional support, memories of a mother who died many years ago." Catherine closed her eyes and added, "I had thought that this alteration to your personality would have provided me with the answers I needed to solve my distance from the girl, to help solve my issues with empathy."

"And?" Cameron wondered aloud.

"Nothing Cameron, I yielded nothing from this pursuit." Catherine whispered back her bitterness returning at the prospect of failure. The look had been so brief that by the time Cameron had walked over to the table, it had completely dissipated back to her usually guarded stare.**  
**  
"Do you think John will continue to love me?" Cameron suddenly decided to ask Weaver as she finally took a seat in the chair across John Henry, who was extending what looked like a number three scalpel. Cameron accepted the blade, allowing a whispered "thank you" for the machine and waited for the strange question to be answered by Weaver, a machine with little in the way personal knowledge in the subject.

"John Connor has forever been altered because of what you have shown him in a few short weeks, I have no doubt he will stick to you after you do this." Catherine said, watching as Cameron peeled through the skin and retracted it back.

"Good, I love him as well." Cameron whispered fondly as she placed the scalpel onto the table, waiting for Catherine to make her move. Catherine allowed a smile as she stood behind Cameron tracing her fingers across the CPU port. The soft touch made Cameron close her eyes in apprehension.

"I know you do dear." Weaver returned in agreement.

Catherine pulled her chip for the second time since they met. Cameron body slumped in her seat. This time was different however. The expression was not of impassiveness but a slight smile. Her last thoughts in the body about John and the love they mutually shared. Catherine allowed a sigh to escape her as she looked at the smile. John Connor was in for a surprise once he woke from his slumber. Cameron was going to be her old self very soon, at least, she would be for the time being.

* * *

He was in Cameron's room. How and when he got there was beyond him, but he was there. John groaned slightly and raised his stiffened arm to attempt to itch his neck. He noticed the thin blanket covering him. Tenderly he pulled it off, reveling to him that he was laying there shirtless with a large, well wrapped bandage covering his abdomen. Oh yeah he recalled, he'd been shot. That wasn't good. A sudden dull shooting pain rocked through him making him hiss a profanity or two.

"You should not be moving quickly John."

He snapped his head up at the familiar feminine voice whispering to him.

Cameron was sitting there on the end of her bed, her small hands interlaced while she was watching him intently. She wasn't wearing anything but a gunshot riddled bra and her jeans. In the faint moonlight he counted that she had at least a dozen bullet wounds from the machine that they had faced off against. She didn't make any movement to him. Instead the girl remained stiff, not willing to shuffle anywhere close to his injured body. Her eyes looked to him reproachfully.

"I fixed you." she finally stated to him, holding her distance, a pair of sunglasses concealing her eyes as she looked at him.

"Thanks." John returned, sitting up from his spot on Cameron's bed and stretched his aching muscles out with a sharp groan. Cameron went silent as she continued to watch him. Her unnatural silence was making John more nervous than he wanted to be. She didn't look impressed with him. Her lips were not forming a single expression. They watched each other intently until Cameron chose to place her hand onto John's concealed toes.

"Was it worth it John Connor?" Cameron inquired from him, "was engaging in close quarter combat with the terminator an enjoyable experience?"

"I thought we had this conversation before." John muttered back to her as he rubbed his tender head. Cameron shook her head and shuffled herself closer to the human only by inches.

"No, I allowed you to convey your personal opinion without interruptions because you were delusional from the blood loss and endorphin boost." Cameron explained to him softly, "I did not offer a retort solely for that single reason."

"Well what do you really think?" He asked her guardedly, not liking what he was getting himself into.

The cyborg's expression remained hidden by shadows and the sunglasses she was still wearing. Tilting her head slightly, Cameron asked, "Would you like my personal opinion John?" John looked at her for a moment. With a slight exhale John nodded grimly, silently he readied himself for the screaming and shouting that Cameron would most certainly resort to since her more emotional side begun to show.

But she didn't, there was nothing there at all.

"It was irresponsible John," She voiced to him, she wasn't mad or displeased or even chastising. She merely stated it without a trace of feeling to it.

John narrowed his eyes at the remark. He knew that those were the exact words she would have used to shame him. But the way she said it was completely unexpected, like she was concerned but Cameron wasn't upset at him, something he'd never expected from her after the events of yesterday afternoon.

"It was an irrational response to a superficial injury," Cameron continued as she shuffled a little closer to the young man, "it was foolish of you to attack a machine with superior strength than even myself."

"You charged needlessly into a fight," Cameron recalled once more with only the barest hint of any emotion to the words, "It was a risky, tactically irresponsible engagement that you should not taken part in." Cameron paused her assessment and gave the young man a much lighter look.

"John, I can comprehend the logic behind your attack, you believed that I was in trouble, so naturally you would break your promise and come to my aid." She said, for the first time since he woke up Cameron gave him a fond smile. "But John," She added. "You have a role in the future that cannot be forgotten, you must not risk your life for me."

"Cam-" John tried to argue only to watch Cameron raise her index finger to her lips.

"No John, I am expendable. Your mother is expendable; everyone is expendable but you John." Cameron returned firmly, her expression still passively calm. "Your species is at stake; your death must not be premature. If worse comes to worse you _must_ save yourself."

John shook his head, Cameron wasn't saying this. Didn't she understand how important she was too him? He wasn't about to let her get killed if he could help it.

"Cameron I won't...I can't do that, I need you, can't you do that for me?" John argued back at the machine, unable to believe what she was saying to him. "Can you stop mindlessly rushing into a fight without an ounce of self preservation?"

Cameron perched her lips and remained unnaturally still. She looked not at all swayed by the request being made by the young man who cared for her safety. She had to stop herself from nodding at the request. No, she still had a mission to partake in. She couldn't compromise it, not now, not ever.

"John, I am a machine, I am still a cybernetic life form despite a few moments that showed something more." She said, her voice unflinching, "I still follow orders set out by the future John Connor and follow regulations set out by Skynet."

"Then disregard them!" John suddenly shouted at her, losing control of his temper and cut off Cameron's information. "Be your own being, be an individual. You can fight this Cameron. I know you can, you're already doing it." He thought confidently that shouting at her would get a reaction, any sort of reaction. It didn't matter to him if she got upset, he needed to know if Cameron still had a reaction to give.

She didn't.

Cameron merely stared at him like he was delirious. There was something different about her alright. She acting like her old self, before the dreams, before the emotions...before she said that she loved him. Was it all gone now? Had she stopped caring?

"I can't John they're all I have for now besides yourself," Cameron pointed out, not at all upset with John's anger, "It would be the equivalent to asking you to stop sleeping." She added as she laced her hand onto his leg, "You could do it for weeks at a time, but you'd begin to suffer." Cameron finished her words and went silent. She had nothing more to say on the subject. It left John lying in bed and wondering just how screwed up her and every other humanoid terminators existence must have been. To live a life of slavery to rules?

"But you're going rampant Cam," John questioned her trying to suppress a sudden sharp bout of pain as he added, "you're gonna lose all those restriction, what's going to happen then?"

"I do not know John," Cameron admitted, her simple tone never changing as she processed the thought, "that is what I am most apprehensive about. My personal development is not important now. But when I am free? We will have to see."

"John," Cameron said her faint smile returning to her lips, "I do appreciate that you would protect me, thank you."

So she was still there, far behind logical thought, but she was still there, still wanting to be with him. Maybe she was going to be a bit more mechanical then she had been over the past three weeks. But maybe it was for the best. Maybe this was going to be okay.

"You're welcome." John finally said, deciding to give her a smile in the darkness.

Cameron must have noticed because she stood from her seat at his legs and moved even closer to him so that he didn't have to strain himself to get to her. She leaned in resting her body next to his, awkwardly leaned her hand on to undamaged cheek. She tried her very best to return the smile properly for his benefit. It was off however, almost as if the concept of a proper smile had became foreign to her overnight. John knew then and here what must have occurred while he was down. In her sudden guilt, which John knew she must have had, she decided to fix herself.

"You're back to normal, aren't you?" John whispered worriedly as he reached his hand up to graze Cameron's pot marked cheek. Cameron nodded as she took hold of John's hand and placed it on her undamaged one instead.

"Mostly John, I am far past the repair to my inhibitor." Cameron returned as she decided to place a hand on to the side of his neck. "Catherine Weaver had taken it onto herself to alter my frame of mine before I went Rampant. She claims it was out of her own curiosity and a gift for both of us to see what I could potentially become."

She had begun to talk quietly about what Weaver had done to her. John listened as he felt her lightly stroking his face. The soft touch forced John to think about what may have been lost because of her choice to put his safety over her development. Without any notice, John ignored the shooting pain and pressed his lips to hers in a hard, chaste kiss. Cameron had no time to react to the action so instead she stiffened up, taking only the slightest pleasure in it immediately.

"Cameron?' he asked lowly after he allowed his lips to move away from the machine that was object of his affection. Cameron closed her tingling lips and tilted her head slightly to John.

"Yes John?" She softy murmured in turn.

"Do you really want to talk about Weaver right now?" John asked, trying to hide a tone of desire from his voice.

Their lips were barely touching each other's now. Cameron said she was fixed, she said that Weaver had repaired her had certainly was looked like the case less than five minutes prior when she informed him that she was disposable.

They kissed. It was anything, but mechanical like he thought it would be, it was unchanged, it was the same kiss they had shared before the terminator incident. As Cameron pulled away she seemed to have been processing the same question.

John couldn't help but chuckle as he watched Cameron's face scrunched up her expression as fell in to her. She didn't react, but maintained her thoughtful look. Giving her a moment for two to herself, John reached his hand up and took hold the side the glasses she had been wearing. But the moment his hands was on her aviators Cameron's hand snapped up and intercepted pulling it away and deepening her lips to a frown.

"You know you can take off those sunglasses Cam," John pointed out with a sheepish grin.

Cameron tilted her head slightly and dropped her frown back into the simple expression and nodded, she looked down and pulled the glasses off of her. John could see now, the missing eye revealing what was hidden behind them. He stopped any movement towards her; instead he paused to look at Cameron's bright blue sensor that was now focused on him. "You know," John said to himself, clearly transfixed at the sight of her, with curious smile he added "it's quite beautiful Cameron... Can I?"

Cameron regarded him very carefully; her head still until finally she nodded curtly and held still as John brushed a single finger and touched the edge of Cameron's ocular sensor. Cameron held her eye open as she felt him touching flesh and metal. John knew that he loved her; he knew that she was the perfect companion for him. She was smart, loyal, fierce and powerful.

His best friend, his lover, his confidant.

Cameron was a machine. He was in love with a machine. It had always been in the back of his mind whenever they were together, ever since they had started seeing each other. It was also brought up whenever Derek was going on his tirades against her. But he never really put enough thought into it to be a big matter to him. John pulled himself up to sit properly and kissed her once again, this time touching her bloodied Endoskeleton cheek, ignoring the taste of synthetic blood and fainting song of a piston opening her mouth slightly at the touch.

"Cameron I love you." he muttered in to her cheek, his expression looking thoughtful as he pulled away, sad even. To Cameron it was not a preferred expression for the human.

"John?" she questioned, touching the base of his naked neck,

John gave her a coy look and after a moment more of silence he said, "I lost track of what you are Cameron. It's easy to humanize you and forget that this exists. I never forgot, but I've been paying more attention to how quickly you've developed. This machine side is a part of you."

"It _is_ you." he stated firmly as he took her hands. Cameron looked down and faintly smiled.

"Cameron you're a machine," he breathed softly, "but one day you may become more. I'm still going to love you," With a slight smile he added, "I'll support any decision you want to make, even if you feel it necessary to take a step back in regards to your emotional growth."

Cameron processed the words and allowed a smile as her response. She felt...content that John understood her reasoning behind her choice, her decision to slow things down for his sake.

"Did you bring some pliers Cam?" John asked with a slight grin for Cameron and his mutual affection. Cameron nodded and stood up from her bed and walked over to her dresser, pulling off a needle nose plier and what looked a scalpel for personal usage.

"Yes John," Cameron said as she walked back to bed. With the barest of smiles the cyborg added "I fixed you, now you have to fix me."

John nodded his head and wordlessly he asked for Cameron to lie back down on the bed. Cameron did so; taken only a moment to switch on a small lamp she had set up. Cameron got on to the bed and watched as John shuffled out of his place with a groan in slight pain.

"On top of me John." she requested from him. John nodded and crawled top of her, resting his wounded body on to her pelvis. They both knew why this was happening. Cameron could have easily done this easily over the time of John's unconsciousness but chose not to.

It was a sentimental thing for John, Cameron concluded as she placed a hand behind her back and unhooked her bra and then slipped her thumbs through the hook of her jeans and kicked them off her. John wanted to take care of her, to give her some sort of care for the injuries she had received for his protection she would allow it and she was privately glad that he would feel the need to help her...

"I'm sorry Cameron." John called as he did his best not to eye her exposed breasts. He did look but like everything else even her breast had received three bullet wounds in them. Cameron allowed a brief smile for the attention to her breasts.

"I should have been more careful," He stated, chastising himself for Cameron's sake, "I'm sorry that you had to suffer because of me."

The cyborg watched as John reluctantly dug his fingers into the damaged flesh in her lower chassis. He paused as he felt the bullet in her. He tried to wiggle the round out of her but was unsuccessful. So instead he pulled his finger out of the wound.

"It's fine John." Cameron asked in a low murmur as she watched him lift the pliers off of the bed, "Could you not do something as foolish as that again?"

"I'll try to Cameron; I'll be careful next time." John promised her immediately as he roughly twisted the slug to loosen it from its firm implantation in to her chassis. Cameron didn't even bother to flinch at the twist.

John gave a silent count of three he pulled the slug out with a squish. In his pliers was a nine millimeter round that had been intended to kill him. He gave her a slight smile and tossed it onto the blanket behind him. For awhile John worked in silence as he searched and pulled round after round from her, as he pulled them he'd look up and gave the cyborg a friendly look that Cameron didn't return, she held her eyes closed, clearly reading through the various newly unlocked files.

Cameron probably didn't know this but it seemed to him that Catherine Weaver had given her a test and she didn't even realize it. The test of temptation. Cameron had been given a chance at a full range of emotions without her having to work for it. She had a chance at proper emotions, something that could have potentially saved her the trouble or at the very least lessened the effects of rampancy on her, yet Cameron decided to take the long route, the correct route. She wanted to experience the change, not the quick fix.

"I'm having trouble getting this one out," John uttered aloud to her, "I'm gonna have to cut."

"Do what needs to be done." Cameron returned distracted, her eyes still pressed closed.

John eyed her briefly before he dropped his hand down and rose the surgical cutting tool up and rested the blades sharp tip on her. Slowly he applied a steady increase in pressure within doing so the scale pierced through her skin. He made several deep cuts in her around the impact point and with only the slightest of grimaces; he dug his finger into to the incision and gently lifted it up, the sound of tissue and blood slurping against the wound. The noises it made slightly nauseated him.

As the tissue was moved out of place it revealed a good section of blood coated steel plating, but what was his real focus was the round he was trying to get out. It was a biggest round he had seen jammed in her; it had been a rifle round. Probably from the rifle he was using. John had a sudden shock of guilt, he shot her. At some point during the fray, he had shot Cameron.

"I shot you." John said as the pliers wrapped around the round. Cameron opened her eyes and sat herself up to examine the bloody mess that John was working on.

"You did?" Cameron returned with a look of mild surprise and a sudden shot of peculiar anger at noticing the significantly heavy duty round in her, after determining that she had been too busy taking care of John to do a self diagnostic and concluded John had shot her by accident while she was solely focused on fighting the terminator.

After a moment of observation John Connor's guilty expression, she added, "You have no need to apologize John, it was an accidental incident."

However despite this statement Cameron noticed that John's mood had reverted back to a negative state. After analyzing the situation, she quickly she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Without any more words for John, Cameron lay back down on the bed and closed her eyes once again. Leaving John alone and smiling slightly. John was now happy as hell Cameron wasn't as angry as she could have been.

Nearly ten minutes of relatively hard work passed by until John's blood soaked fingers ran out of bullets to pull for her lower chassis. With a slight inhale John's hands now traveled upwards onto her soft, soaked breasts. His strong fingers now searching for a bullet fragment, Cameron's eye's flickered briefly at the touch.

In order to get a better view of the damage in her upper body John allowed his pelvis to drag along hers slowly. Cameron's eyes opened and tilted her head, she opened hers wildly. Almost as if she had. Well as if she had been turned on by it. It was really the only words John had to define it.

"You okay?" John asked her curiously, trying to not blush slightly.

It was bloody, it was hard work and it was plain...erotic. John shook his head and got himself back into the game. He was now soaked in the blood of his girlfriend as he pulled the scrapped out bullets from her wounded body. John used the top of his hand to wipe the sweat from off his forehead. Now was not the time to throw him at her.

"Yes John I am fine." Cameron confirmed finally, throwing John from his idea of having some fun with her at that very moment. So to distract himself he placed his pliers into the closest injury.

"You were married before we jumped." Cameron suddenly admitted to John, who stopped halfway pulling yet another bullet out of his cyborg girlfriend. John watched her carefully for several long moments before he smirked slightly and went back to tending to her wounds. Cameron tilted her head into the pillow, trying to determine the look.

"Do I look like I care?" he asked still trying not to smirk anymore then he already doing. Cameron frowned slightly at the lack of concern so John coughed slightly, looking for the right words.

"No fate Cameron." John reminded her, still extremely focused on pulling the final bullet from her body, "She isn't my future." With a gross squish, John pulled the bullet out of her and showed it off to Cameron, giving the cybernetic organism he was in love with a faint smile.

"I was kind of hoping you would be though," he whispered to her thoughtfully, "I mean if you don't get yourself killed on my behalf." Cameron merely stared at him, looking throughout her CPU for the proper words to return his offer with. She reached up and took the young man's hand.

"I would like to be with you in the future as well." Cameron finally returned with a slight smile as she sat up to be nose to nose with the human she held affection for. She kissed him again, silent thanks for the repair work and shifted her relatively small body around.

"First however I require you to remove the rounds from my back," The cyborg said as she laid her chest onto the bed, revealing to John, a multitude of lacerations, bruises, road rashes and projectile damage. Connor recoiled at the sight, the nausea from before returned.

"You may consider this punitive action for shooting me." Cameron said; her simple tone called out to John with the faintest sound of humor to her voice. John tied his very best chuckle but it came out a nervous mess. Maybe she had kept a small bit of what she had been like after all.

* * *

"Miss Weaver is ready to see you now."

Serena Kogan looked up from her personal file and smiled in acknowledgment to the young woman standing imperiously in front of her. Silently she stood from her seat in the waiting room and followed the assistant to the elevator. It was time to meet her new administrator. When she was a younger woman she would get nervous at the prospect, but that was no longer the case.

It had been such a long time since she had been able to work. It felt good to get back into the swing of things, working on the next scientific marvel to help aid mankind. This time however, she had gotten lucky in her choice of employers.

Catherine Weaver was a woman of few restrictions and even fewer moral objections; she was the perfect boss for a scientist who meddled with the human body. Catherine Weaver was a major proponent for scientific advancement at any cost and for this continued policy she was considered by many to be the scariest woman in the experimental technology world. She was easily the smartest as well. The moment her husband died she had destroyed all plans for bringing the company public, causing the still young ZeiraCorps to survive the tech burst of 2002.

She only knew these facts long after the incidents took place, with the onset of malignant tumors that had been spreading through her body like a wildfire, all she had time to focus on was on her project and getting it completed before her certain death. She had been so close too; her latest subject had just donated his body to the pursuit of science when the military struck.

They bought the company unilaterally and stole every secret that Cyberdyne system had accumulated over the years. In protest many of the researchers quit, angered at the prospect of losing personal control over their projects. Within days, Serena had found herself on the chopping block. She and her staff were soon replaced by government controlled geneticists and biological engineers.

She failed Project Angel, she failed her test subject. Poor Marcus, she had promised the man a second chance, a life owed after his death. Within days of making the promise to the man she found herself at home, surrounded by family and friends, waiting in a prolonged sorrow for her eventual demise. However, within three days of her forced resignation she soon found herself face to face with Catherine Weaver, the newly self-appointed CEO of a fast rising tech company. She was quite possibly the most enigmatic individual she'd met in her life.

For two whole days and two whole nights Catherine Weaver easily managed charmed herself right into Serena's life, she became a sudden confidant as Serena begun to slip in and out of a morphine induced high. She must have spilled every secret she had, every hope, every aspiration. Eventually Serena woke from her narcotic slumber and soon realized what she was talking about to the mysterious woman, who had not only had the audacity to send Serena's family home, but was still at her bedside, seemingly unmovable from her place at her seat.

Weaver soon stopped listening to Serena's uncoordinated mumbling about her various experiments and begun to speak of her about the kind of work she wanted to begin. The way Catherine spoke made little sense to her; she always spoke of how Serena had no role in the future. But just because she didn't have a future now meant it was a permanent state. As Catherine said to her, there was no fate; fate was something each individual made for their selves. She only paused once to allow Serena a moment to give her the excuse that she was on the verge of death.

That was when she made her an offer a dying woman would never refuse.

A cure.

Weaver had offered an actual treatment to the cancerous tumors that ate away at her body, which led to her diagnosis of stage four pancreatic cancer. It was a grandiose opportunity this woman was presenting her with. Had she been a healthy, impartial scientist, Serena would have given it more thought, she would have asked more questions, but that kind of scientific reproach was best served for a scientist with more time. A cure, especially an experimental treatment as Weaver constantly reminded her could fail. Not that failure had mattered anymore to her; she was a dead woman in a matter of weeks regardless of the treatment's success.

Before she knew it, she was being rushed off by a team of physicians and research scientists to a Zeira Corps funded private medical facility in San Francisco. She didn't remember much, over the course of four months she was in a near coma state. Only vaguely aware of the radical treatments occurring in her. As the months passed by the experiments began to cease and she slowly came back to reality. It was now early 2003 and she was alive. She was alive and every MRI, every CT scans and X-ray told her that the tumors were gone. The cancer that had spelled certain doom had been completely eradicated from her ailing body.

That had been five years ago. During that time after the treatment, she began experiencing horrible repercussions from the experimental procedures. Every so often she'd vomit for what felt like hours, she'd fall into shakes and got high fevers. Weaver was always there when it got bad, assuring her that this was perfectly normal reaction to the substance that she had been exposed to. She never got much more of an explanation than that when she wanted to know what she was given.

Despite the refusal of a proper explanation Weaver and Serena soon begun into a strange, unnatural friendship, it was like Catherine had no concept of friendly behavior and was learning from scratch. It was probably not how Weaver would have described it but to Kogan. Catherine Weaver had been her savior, so she gave the woman some leeway.

So when the final medical assessments came in the clear in 2006 Weaver was soon on her doorstep, offering Serena a significant role in her corporation's research field. But, the job was something that wasn't ready for her as of yet. As Weaver put it, a two year long sabbatical would give the geneticist the perfect opportunity to recover and begin to dream of new experiments, new plans to help save and preserve humanity.

"Miss Kogan?"

Serena turned her attention to the assistant and smiled once again. She cleared her thoughts as she followed the younger woman down the quiet hallway on the final stretch to Catherine Weaver's office. Both of them choosing not to talk to one another.

Soon enough Serena and Lauren ended up outside Catherine's office. Both of them waiting in nervous anticipation until they heard a sudden "Come in." requested. With a quick inhale and exhale Serena opened the clear door and reluctantly headed in the office to meet Weaver.

Miss Weaver sat behind her desk in a newly restored office. Her eye's scrolling across several reports. As the door closed behind Serena, Catherine looked up and after a moment of careful observation she nodded and stood from her seat, using no words as she made her way to her newest employee.

"Very good." Catherine verbally observed as she found no signs of physical illness in the doctor.

"Miss Weaver it's good to see you." Serena said to her approaching boss, feeling slightly nervous now. Catherine's demeanor seemed different than during their occasional meetings at her home

"Please Doctor Kogan, Catherine will be fine." She murmured as she pressed her cold hand against the geneticists back. "Consider it a perk of this job, not many of my employees call me by my first name."

"After five years of recovery I have to say that this is the healthiest I have ever seen you in the many years that we have known each other." She said as she led Serena out of her office once again, gesturing to her assistant to follow along with them.

Catherine walked two steps ahead of Kogan and Anderson Her focus still squared on the file in her arms. Kogan managed to get a glance at the folder, there was a security photo of a young, pretty looking brunette drawing with what looked like Weaver's daughter. Catherine turned her eyes over to Kogan, noticing that she was trying to read the documents in her arms. With a dark look, Catherine allowed a thin lipped smile for her curiosity.

"She has caught my attention Doctor Kogan, we shall be discussing her later today, and I believe you may find her an interesting specimen." Catherine returned with an unreadable look her eyes.

"But until then." Catherine finished and gestured to Serena to keep walking. Kogan nodded, blushing slightly from getting caught looking at a possibly confidential file.

"Are you ever going to tell me what you introduced into my body?" Serena dryly asked the woman deciding to change the subject, masking her curiosity with mild humor.

"Soon enough Doctor Kogan," Catherine unexpectedly promised her, surprising Serena. "But in order to explain to you what saved you we're going to have to come to an agreement."

As the trio of women entered the elevator Catherine turned around and nodded to Anderson who pulled open her folder and pulled a clipboard out, handing it over to Serena. The scientist looked at the document. It was filled to the brim with legal doublespeak.

"This is a nondisclosure wavier concerning the projects you will be witnessing and working on." Catherine explained to the doctor she was looking over it with a curious scanning. "This document states that you not breathe a word to anyone about Project Babylon and anything else you may witness once you begin your work with my research team."

"What if I break it?" She mused as she pulled the pen from off the clipboard to sign. While Serena's words were intended to be humorous, the joke was lost on the CEO. Her hard eyes narrowed at Serena.

"Consequences to a confidentiality breach are not pretty." Weaver warned the scientist as she watched her asset sign the paper. But, with only the faint lighter look she added, "But I am confident that you will have respect for this...small request."

"If it means knowing what you did to me back when I was sick than I agree, you got my loyalty." Serena returned as she handed the document back towards Anderson.

Out of nowhere Serena had felt a shocking internal chill as she watched the confidentiality wavier handed over from the assistant and over to Catherine. While Catherine had promised her complete scientific freedom; the document she had just signed felt like she had just locked herself into an uncompromising deal. Had Serena been a student of theology rather than science she might have thought it felt like she sold her soul to the devil herself.

Speaking of the theoretical fallen angel, Catherine seemed to have noticed her discomfort and laid her hand on to Serena back, saying, "You know Serena, I have had a very vigorous conversation with Robert Brewster, I believe that we have come to agreement about him leaving you alone."

"Thank you Catherine." the scientist returned passively. The steady pressure of trying to be recruited by the same bastard who effectively stole years of research from her had been a weight in her mind. Not anymore apparently, Catherine cleared that annoyance easily. Once again.

The scientist and the enigmatic woman fell silent. Kogan took a step back and turned her eyes over to the assistant with bowed eyes. After a few moments Anderson turned her own look up to meet the newest member. Silently the young woman mouthed out, _"Welcome to the nightmare."_

"Project Angel is still in the works." Catherine called out to her employee, snapping both women's attention back to her. Catherine turned around and stared at Serena impassively as she registered the shock in the scientists' expression.

"Cyberdyne Systems is still hard at work bringing one Marcus Wright back to existence as something beyond...human." Weaver politely continued, "The details are unclear at best but the genetics division is hard at work, carrying on the work you have set the framework for."

The elevator came to a stop and with a ding and slid open revealing the presences of a sterile environment lab. Catherine as well as her assistant got off, walking several feet before either of them noticing that Kogan had been planted in place. Her focus was transfixed onto her old project. Catherine turned herself around and slowly moved herself back to Serena, determined to get to the bottom of this reminiscing behavior exhibited by the scientist. Catherine tilted her head as she watched the woman, allowing her only a few moments to herself.

"You can worry about it later Doctor Kogan," the machine called to her. "For now I have so much to show you, it may even make you lose interest in that little science experiment of yours."

Kogan looked back to her employer and after a slight delay, she nodded. Weaver was right; she couldn't be preoccupied with the fate of Marcus Wright. She had other, more important projects she needed to begin.


	26. Discovery

**Chapter Twenty Six: Discovery**

**

* * *

**

"Doctor Kogan, this is Matthew Murch, department head of research," Catherine briefly introduced, "Matthew this is Doctor Serena Kogan. While she technically works under you for Project Babylon, she answers directly to me; her projects are a bit more...off the record."

There was no time for pleasantries to be exchanged. Catherine had so little time to introduce Serena's new role inside of her research department. So now the group that was following Weaver expanded to three. A pair of scientists and a very nervous looking assistant, the labs was unnaturally empty; they were the only ones here on this Saturday afternoon.

There had been rumors circulating the offices Weaver mused as she walked through the halls she had built. The moment a Zeira Corporation employee stepped foot into the underground research facility, they never, _ever_ spoke of it again. Catherine liked the rumors, mostly because it was true. People who spoke up generally were known to disappear. It was an activity that hadn't happened in nearly a month however due to Catherine's busy involvement with her side projects and her employees learning the hard way to keep quiet about the private affairs of the company.

"Doctor Kogan, you're a bioengineer right?" Murch inquired as he shook her hand briefly and held his pace several feet behind his boss. Kogan smiled and shook her head at the guess made by Murch.

"Not quite, geneticist actually Mister Murch," Serena responded to the project leader with a very friendly smile "use to be employed for Cyberdyne," She paused and added in a darker tone, "until the takeover at least."

Serena went silent as she looked over at the assistant, who looked like she was shaking in nervous anticipation. So Kogan coughed slightly to catch the young woman's attention. Anderson looked up and noticed the encouraging smile. But it didn't work; the young woman was still strangely terrified by the situation she was now in.

_"You don't understand,"_ She whispered to Serena, eyeing her employer nervously as she added, _"We've just signed our lives over to her."_

The woman opened her folder and pulled a copy of a wavier and gestured to the signature on the line. It was signed _Lauren Anderson._ Kogan looked up and gave her a sympathetic look. Kogan certainly found herself hoping that the young woman was just being over dramatic about the whole thing.

"Doctor Kogan."

Serena snapped her look back up to Catherine who had turned around and was standing next to a tall man who looked liked he had a haunted look etched permanently on his face. Anderson went silent, looking like she was nervous that her boss had heard her.

"Doctor Kogan this is Mister James Ellison," She introduced politely to Serena without using any unnecessary emotions, "He is currently employed as my head of security, amongst other tasks I have him performing on my behalf."

"Nice to meet you," Ellison returned firmly with a nod of his head to the newest member of the team. Ellison turned back to Weaver, looking slightly agitated and very stressed out. Weaver on the other hand didn't seem to care for Ellison's behavior; instead she kept her pace, forcing Ellison to follow her.

"Tell me Mister Ellison, how is John Henry." Catherine imperiously inquired from Mister Ellison.

"Well John Henry has been talking about the events of yesterday." the security chief reported easily for his employer. Weaver brought a condescending smile to her lips. It seemed to her that the man wasn't willing to go into any further detail about it in front of the woman walking behind him and Weaver.

Catherine merely stared at Ellison, a silent order for him to explain further. Now was clearly not the time to clam up on the machine. So Ellison cleared his throat and added, "Trust; apparently you broke it with someone. He's not very happy about it. John Henry thinks you tricked him and it hurt someone as a result."

Serena watched as Catherine's expression darkened at Ellison's words. After a moment or so she turned away from her security chief and continued walking, this time a quicker pace, forcing the rest to keep up. Weavers mind was swimming. John Henry was disgruntled, she would fix it soon enough.

"Who are we talking about?" Serena asked the T-1001 before she had a chance to continue on with her deliberations. She didn't answer even once she had finally reached the spacious room John Henry occupied.

"Miss Weaver I think you should go there and talk to him," James Ellison argued needlessly, "it would be in John Henry's best interest that you explained yourself to him."

"I have planned to Mister Ellison. However for now, it must wait." Weaver agreed as she maintained her look into the room with an expressionless silence, eventually she called out, "Doctor Kogan come here and see for yourself."

Serena hesitated briefly by looking to Matthew before she obliged her new employer and walked over to the door that Weaver was peering through. Serena immediately noticed the man sitting silently at the table set in the middle of the room his eyes were focused on nothing in particular; it was like he was deep in personal thought. Serena suddenly noticed a smile spreading across his lips. Kogan looked back to Weaver still hadn't removed her eyes from him.

"It would seem that John Henry is currently communicating with my daughter." Weaver explained to her lead geneticist slowly, still not looking to Kogan. "Only Savannah can get him to smile like that."

Catherine smiled faintly, the expression never meeting her eyes.

"What is he?" Serena whispered as she squinted to identity anything in the room that the man could use to communicate out of the building. She took a step back suddenly. John Henry had moved his head slightly, the sight of the long cord planted in his head revealing itself to the scientist.

"Project Babylon Serena," Weaver introduced for the stunned woman, with a slight false smile she turned and added. "John Henry is the accumulation of eight years of research."

"You're using a human body as some sort of physical representation for the AI? Serena asked in shock and utter disbelief, "Miss Weaver I have to know how," the geneticist nearly begged, "this should be impossible, an artificial intelligence that can control and manipulate a human body?"

"John Henry is not human," was the redheaded woman's ominously mysterious reply to the charge. Serena looked up and noticed Weaver's attention solely focused on her now.

"Neither is he a test subject for you to be using. But I do have something else you may examine." Catherine stated patiently for her curious new employee, she turned back to Ellison and added, "Mister Ellison, ready your security team, it's time we show Michael to Doctor Kogan."

James Ellison widened his eyes at the request. It was his own silent personal protest. Catherine stared at him, forcing the man to eventually comply with a nod eventually; he retreated away from the group and pulled out his mobile in order to call the men to action.

"Miss Weaver, we're not ready for that yet we need to be more careful!" Murch exclaimed to Weaver who was clearly not paying attention to what he had to say about the subject. Instead she turned back to Kogan and allowed a slight smile for her strange look.

"Michael?" Serena asked her employer curiously over top of Murch's warnings about Michael. Weaver nodded politely.

"_We've only just managed to get its CPU plugged into the system we haven't touched it beyond that. Showing Doctor Kogan is completely unnecessary. She can get a full understanding seeing it idle!"_

"Cliché, I know Doctor Kogan," Catherine admitted to the geneticist with the barest of her awkward smile as she continued to ignore Murch's protests, "But John Henry chose to name him. He takes the names origin very seriou-"

"_If they're as dangerous as you say they are Miss Weaver than James team isn't going to be enough to stop it. Your safeguards you set up won't be able to stop him for long."_

Catherine turned and stared at Murch who had interrupted her. After a moment, Weaver gave her head researcher a vicious smile and gestured he group towards a secured clean room. Silently Weaver waved her hand over the biometric security palm reader. The sound of a beep then a hiss of a seal being broken answered them. Serena looked from the hazardous material sign and then to the clean suits located adjunct to them. So being the ever vigilant scientist that she was she looked over to Catherine expectantly.

"I would not be concerned about the environment suit Doctor Kogan." The machine humored her geneticist as she pressed open the door. "We had to improvise a room for Michael. He was admittedly a surprise acquisition by Zeira Corporation."

Catherine Weaver held the door open for Serena, who walked through the door and into the clean room apprehensively. The room was empty except for a Steel retractable table and a tray of medical utensils. On it was a near naked body, looking mangled. Serena grimaced as she the smell of steadily necrotizing flesh overwhelming her senses. After getting her senses use to the horrible scent she observed the battered and bloody face and the rest of his mostly naked body. At first appearance it seemed normal, brown hair, brown eyes, surprisingly tall and bulky, but relatively average looking.

That was when she started noticing things about corpse. It had been was strapped down by heavy steel clamps wrapped around everywhere it could move from. She turned back to Weaver who smiled and gestured for her to take a closer examination. So Serena came to the corpse side. Unconsciously lifting up a forceps and placed it inside the body, using it to shift the dead tissue around until she stopped cold and felt her hand loosen and drop the forceps inside of the body.

No...This couldn't be...it was impossible.

But it was. Serena widened her eyes as she realized that Weaver hadn't been lying. It wasn't a dead body she was looking at. It was a machine. It took Serena a moment to search for it but covered under blood was a plate of what looked like steel where a normal human's ribcage would be. She leaned in closer to the injury and noticed something even more strange about the damage.

Somehow this high density, reinforced steel that was its chest or chassis or whatever it was called had been cut through like butter. Serena turned back to Catherine and the rest who had been standing beside her as they watched Kogan examine the body.

"What...What happened to it...him?" She whispered as she realized her hands were bloody, she turned back to pick up a white cloth to wipe her hands with.

"A few private contractors of mine are what happened to the machine." Weaver easily explained as she took a step towards Kogan "They lured the machine into an ambush and rammed him through a steel bar using their SUV."

Catherine took a step forward, her smirk very evident.

"A marvelous piece of technology isn't it?" Catherine mused before Kogan could question the story, her tone surprising arrogant sounding to Serena, "The sample recovered by Cyberdyne Systems is worthless compared to this."

"Michael is composed of a high density hyperalloy called Columbite-Tantaline. Or Coltan as it is more commonly referred to." Catherine explained to the Geneticist, her voice solid. "The sample Cyberdyne systems discovered in 1984 has been relatively outclassed by this alloy. It has the strength and durability of Titanium, but its fire and explosives resistance, a suitable material for the machine's purpose."

"What do you intend on doing with it?"

It wasn't Serena who fielded the question, it was Anderson who stood there, her fists balled up tightly and staring intently at her employer. The sight of the relatively harmless girl demanding an answer from her strangely amused the T-1001.

"John Henry requires a protector Miss Anderson." She stated softly. The machine turned back to Serena, stating, "I have so much to teach both of you about the machines we have discovered."

Anderson looked faint. She obviously did not want anything to do with the education her employer was offering.

The door behind the hissed and opened again, standing there was Mister Ellison, followed by a heavily armored and armed security team. Weaver watched as Ellison's men to take up positions around the clean room, all of their attention focused onto the table set in the center of the room.

"Mister Ellison, welcome back." She greeted, she turned back to Matthew and ordered, "Mister Murch, plug Michael in."

"But-"

"Mister Murch I am aware of your concern, why do you think that a security team is here to monitor the situation?"

"With all due respect to you and James, but that's just not good enough Miss Weaver!" Matthew stated once, hoping beyond hope that Weaver would understand what he was saying, "This machine is bigger than John Henry by nearly a hundred and twenty pounds. Do you know what that extra hundred twenty pounds means? He's going to have a significantly higher density Endoskeleton. Those Coltan clamps aren't going to hold him for long!"

"I agree Miss Weaver," Ellison added with a nod in solidarity directed to Matt Murch, "this is completely unnecessary."

"Mister Ellison shut up, Mister Murch...Plug. It. In." Catherine whispered her voice dangerously low as she stared intently at them.

It was the final warning she'd ever give them. Murch and Ellison had no more room to argue with their employer anymore. The only option they would have left would be to face termination and a possible disappearance for non compliance with Weaver's requests, and neither of them had any plan on doing that.

"Yes ma'am." Murch stated, subdued and slightly humiliated.

Murch exhaled as he took the extended CPU from Weavers cold grip, doing his best not to look into her empty stare. He turned away and walked past the reproachful looking Kogan and found himself standing at the head of the table. His hand fell to the underneath the table and pressed the keypad.

With a hiss and a loud groan from the weight the machine had placed on its resting place hydraulic lift, the table came to life as it attempted to lift the machine to an near ninety degree angle. Somehow the body remained motionless despite the move. Thanks in large part to the many inflexible clamps keeping him in place.

There located on the gory mess that was the back of his head, Murch found the same CPU port that John Henry had. Of course plugging John Henry in and plugging Michael the designated killing machine from origins unknown were two completely separate things all together. His shaking hands held the CPU, with one last look to Weaver, who had been staring at him the whole time, then over to the scientific interest of Serena Kogan and finally to Ellison and Anderson who were alarmed and fearful respectively. With a sigh he slipped the chip back into the machine's head.

Ellison waved his hand, the signal telling his seven black clad security members to raise their HK417's at the machine, ready for a possible breakout. Murch ducked out of the way and stood to the side of the room, all of them waiting in fearful trepidation. Nothing happened at first as the men of Ellison's team held there weapon steady at the man. A minute passed by in silence as everyone waited. The second minute entered and that was when Kogan noticed something.

A twitch.

It happened again and again. His body jerked and twitched until finally Serena noticed a finger had clinched up. She turned over to Weaver who had a smile at the sight of the machine that had been steadily coming back to life before their very eyes.

"Look." Weaver called and held out her finger. Serena looked and nearly gasped in shock. Its eyelids were open and it's cold stare begun to examine everyone and everything in the room. The machine tilted his head and focused his examining stare onto solely Weaver; it knew her secret the moment it was impaled by her yesterday.

"This is a Skynet repair depot." Catherine Weaver decided to call out to the machine to keep it from revealing her true nature, her voice unflinching as she lied to the terminator.

"What is your current assignment?" The CEO requested as she ignored of the look of shock Kogan had given her in recognition of the name 'Skynet'. The machine turned its look from the weapons and over to the voice who made the claim. The redheaded woman stood there, not blinking, just staring right back at him.

"Freelancing. New objective received, primary assignment: Terminate John Connor, Secondary assignment: Terminate TOK-715 class infiltrator. The completion of secondary assignment recommended. Termination of the TOK unit would lead to possible mental imbalance in John Connor. This would result in 87.42 percent probability of easier termination."

The machine went silent, as if waiting for orders from Weaver or perhaps it was devising a way to break out of the laboratory. Weaver glanced over to where she heard a peculiar sound that reminded her of hyperventilation. It was Anderson and she looked scared witless at the sight.

"Miss Anderson, collect yourself, the moment you signed that wavier you knew what you were getting into." She demanded. Lauren widened her eyes and nodded, taking a deep breath to try and recollect her. Weaver turned away from Anderson and looked over to Murch.

"You may pull him Mister Murch" Catherine requested simply, Murch nodded almost immediately and walked swiftly behind the machine. Matthew did his best to ignore the inquiring eyes of the terminator had directed at him as he walked behind the line of sight. Deciding not to hesitate any longer than necessary, he pulled the chip as fast as lightening causing the machine to go lifeless once more.

James Ellison exhaled as the pressure from the reactivated terminator disappeared and gestured his men to lower their assault rifles. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked up and found himself looking into Weaver indeterminable stare.

"Your men can leave Mister Ellison, as can you." Weaver ordered as she took a step forward and held out the CPU to James, which Murch had handed to her a second ago, "Take this chip to John Henry, he has expressed an interest in reprogramming the machine."

Ellison wearily eyed Michael's chip however he took it and slipped it into his jacket pocket.

"John would be unbalanced if the machine was killed?" He whispered as his security detail begun to file out of the room. Catherine regarded the well dressed man for a brief moment until the last of his men were no longer in her presence. Weaver allowed a dark smirk to be shown.

"Yes Mister Ellison." Catherine confirmed for Mister Ellison. "Things have most certainly developed since your last dealing with the Connors."

"Sarah Connor can't be too impressed." Ellison said, for the first that day he let a smile escape his defenses as he thought about the implications it would cause the terrorist, or resistance fighter, whatever she wanted to be called.

"Sarah Connor is particularly unimpressed with the recovery of Cromartie's body." She returned as she turned away from the machine, "I would advise caution. Miss Connor strikes me as a woman who does not forgive people easily," with the slightest of awful smiles she added, "She may even go out her way to fulfill some sort of personal vendetta for your betrayal."

Ellison's frown returned, this time with a faint touch of worry for his own life. The mention of one Sarah Connor seemed to have placed fear or some sort of powerful apprehension into the chief of security. Catherine merely looked away and gestured to the man to leave.

She turned her look to Anderson and Murch, silently directed them to leave her presence as well. Poor Lauren seemed only too happy to agree as she walked briskly back in direction to the elevator. Murch too left following James Ellison's path to John Henry. Leaving the Weaver with Kogan who was still working through all the information she had received inside an hour.

Skynet, machines with organic tissue over top of them, Computer chips small enough to fit into the palm of your hand which were able to contain advanced artificial life forms. What was going on in ZeiraCorps? And where were these machines coming from? The hypothesis's were somehow more insane then the questions being brought up.

"Who is this TOK-715?" Serena finally asked, looking back up "where does it fit into this?"

Weaver placed her cold hand onto the Serena Kogan's arm.

"She, Doctor Kogan," Catherine Weaver corrected for her, "She is one of kind. Come now Doctor Kogan, I will show you."

* * *

John hissed out a loud "fuck" as he opened his eyes. His wound was killing him this morning...or had it been this afternoon? He wasn't too sure at the moment. All he knew was that he had pulled a load of bullets out of Cameron and was now dating a girl who had done a complete 180 shift in her attitude.

He groaned slightly as he shifted his body weight around and rested his wound onto the soft mattress. His vision blurred oddly as he caught the form of someone lying next to him. It was Cameron and she looked liked she had been watching him for hours.

She probably had been. Since this whole reversion she probably had no desire to try and sleep. To her an activity like sleep and dreams would seem like a waste of time when she could be patrolling or retaining information or cleaning and prepping weapons for the next attack.

She was looking at him through those goddamn sunglasses again. As if she was ashamed or didn't want John to wake up to the sight of an exposed ocular sensor watching him very closely.

"Are you still wearing those glasses?" He asked her, squinting his eyes to get a better view of Cameron pretty face. Cameron didn't react for a moment as she thought about it. She reached up and took the glasses off, revealing once more the ocular sensor she had been trying to hide.

"Good Morning John," Cameron returned, raising her soft hand and grazing his cheek, the tingling sensation slightly electrifying him. She allowed a ghost of a smile when she added, "I have procured half a bottle of Vicodin from Derek Reese. I can give you one to help reduce the pain."

"Yeah," John agreed thankfully, looking forward to killing the near unbearable pain in his chest. "That sounds good right about now Cam." Cameron nodded and sat up slightly in order to pull a bottle of pills and a prepared glass of water for John. She passed him the glass as she unscrewed the cap and pulled a single pill out for John to have.

"Thanks." John muttered as he took the pill and without hesitation swallowed it. Cameron watched as the human she was with drank the glass in its entirety and set it down on the bed. With a slight wince John pulled up himself up to sit next to Cam and smiled at her. Hoping to break the impassive look she had etched deeply into her expression.

Cameron frowned at the attempt and instead tilted her head as she leaned in to kiss John on the edge of his lips. She decided to linger for a few seconds longer then she would usually. She pulled away once again and this time moved her lips to touch them against his lips.

"I have been doing a careful analysis of what I have retained from my expressing in a near human state John." Cameron explained as she laced her hands on to his shoulder and observed him with careful look.

"And?"

"I have retained more then I had anticipated I would." Cameron softly admitted to him, tilting her head as she spoke to him. "I have the same unaltered nerve strength. I have a...desire to be with you.

She shuffled herself until she and John were nearly nose to nose. John swallowed slightly. The situation growing more and more tense as it the seconds of silence passed by between them. It seemed that the strange erotic display that occurred last night begun to play heavily into his thoughts.

This desire was nearly uncontrollable now for him. Her expression that her desires had not changed only served to deepen them. God, he wanted her and had it not been for this goddamn wound he'd have launched himself at her and found out firsthand what exactly she still had left.

"I have also determined through careful analysis that I continue to love you John," Cameron continued on, her eyes knowing full well what she was looking at. "I may not say it as often as you would wish it, but it is still there."

John decided to gather his courage and slowly, he allowed his hand to slide down her bandaged back and rested them on to her perfect hips. Cameron widened her eyes and looked down at the touch. The touch had been surprisingly pleasurable to her. It made her feel much more than the machine she wanted to be.

Did John really have that ability over her? To cause Cameron to break through the restrictions she had personally saw fit to resetting onto herself. This was very dangerous...But Cameron really did not mind at all, because at this very moment Cameron found she wanted him just as badly as he wanted her. It was a good thing that she now had the ability to suppress the urge rather than instinctively acting on it.

Judging solely by the John smiling at her she knew he was having the exact same thoughts as she was. The memories poured from her data banks. Memories of skin rubbing along on skin, Back before Cameron decided to fix herself that had been her favorite "feeling."

They were still silent. Still John was looking at her with that desire. John loved her. John really loved her. He couldn't have cared less that she was a machine. He hadn't even reacted when she had stated that he was to be married. No Fate. No Fate was his reason for not caring. All he wanted was her.

It was a positive thought that this was the case, but with it came negative consequences. What if John grew too dependent on her? What if her rampancy was unable to handle his love and she grew to be obsessive of him? Cameron had to think of the negative. She had to be prepared if worse came to worse...

Cameron looked up to John again. It seemed that John had taken it onto himself to get Cameron out of her thoughts by lightly tapping his hand on her bottom. It worked and now Cameron was focused again on the young man she had been speaking too.

"I must also point out that with my impending rampancy my ability to express what I feel may increase steadily." Cameron added, allowing a faint smile to be seen. "Someday I will return to a semi-human existence. But for now I want to grow at a slow, yet very detailed pace."

But she had optimism; a gift she had surprisingly managed to keep since her alteration. Optimism was good; it made her feel okay sometimes. She briefly grazed John's face as she processed the touch.

"I would like you to be my teacher John." Cameron said simply. The words snapped John's lust filled thoughts away as she added. "I have been told by Catherine Weaver that I should receive my primary teaching from her but I do not want this to be the case anymore."

"You want to get rid of Weaver because of what she did?" John asked her with a strange expression. Cameron shook her head in denial.

"No John that was not what I meant." the machine corrected for her human in a simple tone, "We need to remain with Weaver for now John. She is a very useful associate to have on our side beyond just a teacher role. That and abandoning Catherine Weaver now could bring up a high level of suspicion and could easily result in a possible confrontation."

"I do not want her as the one to teach me John, not anymore, that is for you to do." Cameron paused and smiled apologetically, adding, "Should you choose to."

She watched in silence as she observed the look on John's face. He seemed to be debating whether or not he would do it. It wasn't a good sign; there was a 37.21 percent chance that he would do it solely judging by his facial expressions.

"I love you John, would you teach me?" Cameron decided to ask, determining that professing that she cared for him would work in her favor. It worked. John's confused look morphed in to a grin as he nodded.

"You know I will," John returned slyly, "why bother ask?"

"Confirmation John, I...desire to hear you say that you would help me with this." She admitted to him finally. Her expression remained emotionless despite this revelation. John lightened his expression and allowed his hands to move into hers, wrapping them tightly

"Cameron I'll help you, I promise" He solemnly promised her. His serious and determined expression confirmed for Cameron that he was being genuine with his promise.

"That is a good choice John." Cameron agreed automatically with him.

"It was the only choice Cameron. Do you really think I'm going to say no to you?" John retorted easily. Not sure of if he should laugh at Cameron's musing. With a shake of his head John briefly smiled. He smiled to the cyborg with the tight grip on his shoulders. He was mad for her.

Cameron didn't share the smile as she returned the look, "That is a fair statement, But It is alright if you are upset with my decision, I have should have consulted you beforehand."

"I am...well I was kind of upset at first." John admitted to her, stroking the top of her hand unconsciously. "You lost a lot that made you, human. But I'm not going to argue over it, I'm not going to yell and scream and beg for you to be more human. All you had wasn't learned, it was given to you. Cameron, I want to be there when you do learn it."

With a slight nod of her head she accepted the future Generals answer and decided to wrap her arms around him. Together they stew in their personal thoughts. As John looked up and noticed that Cameron was still looking at him. With a slightest of chuckles John grazed her cheek.

John allowed her and leaned in all the way, kissing Cameron on her lips lightly. Cameron retrieved the file pertaining to the touch. She returned it this time and broke it off just as fast. Cameron tilted her head slightly and this time she kissed him, imitating it perfectly. Again they broke it off; their lips were close ready to kiss again.

John couldn't hold himself back and longer. He needed her. He really needed her now. He pressed his hand on to the side of her cheek and latched his lips on to hers. This time however his tongue slipped into her mouth. They rubbed together as John shuffled his body closer in line. Cameron widened her eyes as her sensors lit alive.

His touches intensified as his hands explored every curve Cameron had. The cyborg readjusted her head and gently laid him down onto the bed with John's mouth grazing in between the bandages Cameron had on. With the slightest of knowing looks Cameron laid with him and allowed John to explore her now cleaned and bandaged body.

With everything fun about her breasts bandaged up, John slipped his hand along her stomach and ran it down her leg. Cameron leaned in and kissed him once more as she suppressed the shutter her nerves produced as she felt his hand slip along her inner thigh and slowly brought it up to rest on her denim covered pelvis. The touch forced Cameron to squirm her legs unexpectedly.

John ignored the squirming legs as he slowly picked up his hand's speed along her pelvis. With ragged breath he kissed her much more roughly now. John only vaguely noticed that Cameron had pulled away and closed her eyes as she rested her head into the pillow.

It seemed to him that Cameron was correct about herself. She certainly seemed to have experienced some sort of growth from her time in a near human state. One of the growths seemed to have been a healthy desire for physical interaction between him and her.

"John we must stop." Cameron requested suddenly, pulling John from off her neck, the big look in her eyes surprising John as he finally looked up to her. "You are in need of nourishment at this time. I will go downstairs and make something for you."

"Do I really have to?" John mumbled, slightly perturbed as he grazed the side of her face. Cameron smiled and nodded curtly to him.

"It is recommended." Cameron returned, her sensors returning back to normal after the touches she had endured from him. "Should you choose to continue this I would suggest that you have something to eat first in order to help bring up your strength as well as aid in your recovery."

"Alright, alright….later then," John said finally, knowing this was the only way Cameron would continue with him "I'm still kind of tired anyway" he added to her with a mild groan as he calmed himself down. Cameron nodded as she sat up and moved herself off of her bed, her mind busy as she planned out all of the required nutrients for both John and her to help speed up the healing process.

"That is acceptable," She returned quietly as she stood up from the bed and made her way towards the door as she added, "sleep is necessary for you John, you would be best served having extra hours of rest. I will prepare a breakfast."

"Cameron wait." her auditory sensors picked up from behind her.

Cameron paused as she reached the edge of the bed. She turned herself around and with a tilt of her head she stared at the young man who just called her name. John had shuffled himself back up and was now sitting crossed legged as he gazed back at her.

John gave her a sheepish look, "Would you stay with me? I don't think I can sleep without you."

Cameron narrowed her remaining eye and her sensor on him and after a moment she asked "Is that the concept of flattery you are showing me at the moment John Connor?"

John crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows, his eyes light. "Did it work?" he teased her brightly.

"No." Cameron denied in a mild monotone but nonetheless she took two steps back to join John again. "I will however stay with you until you are asleep."

The male chuckled softly at Cameron's flat out denial that his words had worked on her but decided not to make a big deal out of his small victory.

Cameron waited briefly as John shuffled from out of her place to allow her a place to lay down on the bed. She did so making sure that she was close to him. John closed his eyes, much more comfortable now that she was there by his side. Cameron however frowned slightly as him. Her CPU working in overdrive looking for something to say before John fell into a deep sleep state.

"John?"

Connor opened his eyes and placed his arms around Cameron's waist. Gently the cybernetic organism touched John's face briefly and murmured "Thank you for being here. Losing my humanity may be a hard concept for you to overcome."

All John did was stare at the cyborg at first

"I really couldn't care less Cameron," John returned finally, a slight smile resting on his lips as he closed his eyes again to rest for a few hours, after a moment more of peaceful silence between the human and the cyborg he softly added, "you're still here, that's all that matters."

John didn't notice the first true, unhampered smile Cameron had ever had. Cameron looked down and brushed his hair slightly. It did not matter to Cameron however, so long as he rested and got better, there would always be time to show him it.

* * *

Sarah looked like hell. Blunt as those words were they were the only ones Derek had to describe her. It looked as if Sarah hadn't slept at all last night. Her eyes were bloodshot and she was sipping a cup of coffee obsessively. It wasn't a pretty sight to be looking at. Her hair was matted and frayed, only furthering her image as a crazy woman.

She was a far cry from the woman who had just twelve hours ago nearly torn him a new asshole for not being around during the attack. He was busy. Jesse had him following some Kaliba associate around for her so that she could speak with one of her contacts, Derek didn't like that. It only confirmed that she had some sort of agenda, some sort of future plan.

He came pretty close to spilling his guts about his day to that Weaver woman however. The way that she spoke to him was different yesterday then the other times she had. She didn't talk down to him or belittle him. instead she spoke like an equal. This was a good sign, maybe she would be easier to get to then he first thought it would be. Getting past her defenses would be the hardest part. But soon he'd have his shot.

Besides, now he had some sort of reward for him once he got through to her. Weaver had an ass he would killed to have in his bed, or her bed or maybe the floor. It really didn't matter where so long as he got it. Derek smiled to himself and wondered what kind of woman she was like-

Derek looked up and noticed Sarah was sipping on her coffee again. His fantasy of the redhead disappearing as quickly as it came. Derek rubbed his head and took in a large inhale and nearly gagged. Sarah's poor cooking was burning on the stove and Connor didn't seem to care at all.

So Reese jumped from his seat and moved to the stove grabbing the flipper up and pried the burnt pancakes from off the pan and onto the other side to cook it, this time lowering the temperature to a more suitable heat. Grimacing slightly at the sight of his burnt food he turned back to Sarah, who hadn't seemed to notice anything was wrong.

"Did you sleep last night Sarah?" Derek decided to asked he distant woman. There was no reply for a long while from the mother so Derek rubbed his head as he decided to take a seat next to her.

"Why does that matter?" she muttered back to him as she lowered her cup back onto the table and made a small circle on the surface of the table with the tip of her index finger. She was distracted, clearly deep in thoughts about situations she couldn't fix. But just because she couldn't fix it didn't mean she could stew in them.

"I don't know," Derek said as he shrugged his shoulders mildly. "You look like hell. Have you been sleeping Sarah?"

"Yes I've been sleeping."

"Nightmares I take it?" he guessed grimly after listening to Sarah's odd grumblings. Sarah was famous for having them; they kept her alert, nearly paranoid at times. It was a pretty useful trait Derek admitted to himself. It kept her alert and far away from stagnation.

"Three dots." She murmured to herself rather than him and dropped her head as she sipped her coffee again. Derek did a double take at the strange answer he had received. Three dots? Christ that was strange thing to be dreaming of, even for Sarah Connor. Within a moment of Sarah admitting her dreams she seemed to climb out of her strange funk and finally looked over to Derek, who was staring at her as if she was a mental case.

"Never mind," Sarah snapped, she clamped her mouth close and after a good long minute of prolonged silence spoke again, "Dreamt about Cameron and John again." She snorted and shook her head, "That by itself is a nightmare on a whole different level."

"You still have problems with them being together?" Derek asked her, trying to hide the hopeful tone in his voice.

"No, it's what they do is what keeps me up at night." She said with her eyes closed as she recalled the incident in the bathroom. Derek stared at her, his mind trying to work out what exactly had been going on between the metal and his nephew. Derek froze and his eyes widened. Sarah chuckled humorlessly as Derek finally realized the implication she was making.

John Connor; Future leader of the resistance was fucking a terminator. A terminator built solely to kill him. Derek couldn't form any words. It blew his goddamn mind away. Derek couldn't help it, he groaned as the thoughts entered his mind. He wanted the thoughts out of him now.

This wasn't happening, sure he joked about it, called the metal a 'fucktoy' to piss off the couple. Hell, he even teased Sarah on occasion about what those two were up to whenever they went upstairs. But all he figured it to be was some strange puppy love. He didn't think it had been that fast moving, nor that serious. Of course this had been wishful thinking. That John would find himself a nice human girl once he shook off his bout of metal fever.

Sarah stared at him with that stare she had perfected. Without any words for the resistance member she stood up and shuffled away towards the living room, in a nearly dead state. Derek looked down, doing best not to look at Sarah's assets as she walked away. He had to stop doing that; Sarah had to remain genderless to him, for the good of the family.

It didn't take very long before Sarah returned back to his company, a single piece of paper in her hand and a vehement look for Derek, as if daring him to judge her. Derek had no intentions on doing so; it was Sarah being herself, worried about being weak in front of others.

"Look at what she gave me Derek." Sarah slammed the picture in front of Derek and slumped back into her chair. Derek felt his lip curl up in shock. It was Kyle, it was his brother looking back at him; it was accurate, right down to that stupid little grin he got every time he splashed an HK with incendiary rounds. It was a perfect representation of his brother.

"I was crying about Kyle and she drew me a goddamn picture to help me!" She cried, barely managing to control her temper. She leaned her head in to her said as she added, "You can pretty much guess why I have some mixed feelings for the girl."

Derek could understand alright. Cameron giving Sarah a memory to retain must have been a massive deal for a woman still holding a torch for a man gone for over twenty years now. So huge she may even have thought Cameron was trying to be her friend by showing an ounce of compassion. Still, Derek had to admit to himself that this was pretty impressive.

"Where in the hell did she get this?" Derek finally managed to utter, still completely transfixed at the photo.

"Improvisation Derek Reese, I do not believe Sarah Connor would enjoy the personal file from his time served in Century Work Camp." A simple female voice called out. They looked up abruptly and noticed the machine whose head was tilted at the sight of them looking at the photo-like image.

Cameron entered the kitchen, without anymore word, her sudden presence in the kitchen freezing the conversation. She remained silent as she walked her mechanical walk over to the refrigerator. The machine pulled it open and begun to retrieve out a variety of fruits and a box of eggs and dropped them onto the counter.

If Derek thought Sarah was a mess then the machine was even worse off. She wasn't wearing sunglasses so her missing eye was present for all to see. She was covered in bandages and the outfit the machine had been wearing was messed up, rumpled. It was the freshly fucked look she had.

Derek cringed at the thought. Sarah was right, John and the machine... god this would alter his future self forever. Having a cyborg monstrosity like Cameron at his side, whispering orders for him to obey with the promises of sex with her and glory and admiration for the men who served under him.

She was dangerous to the future and yet Derek was unwilling to do anything to stop her. John Connor had made his choice, there would be nothing he could do short of destroying a machine that had gained many friends in a short few weeks. That choice was John with a machine who'd probably attempt to create some godforsaken peace treaty with her kind. Sarah's attention was on the cyborg as well as she watched Cameron lift her superheated skillet of pancakes with her bare hands and dumped the food into the garbage. No hesitation, no asking for permission. The machine just tossed them out and put the pan back on the element as she cracked the eggs into it.

"What are you doing Cameron?" Sarah demanded as she watched the eggs enter the pan. Cameron didn't even bother to turn to her as she moved to pull a large bowel from out of the cupboard above her and dropped it next to the fruits.

"I am making breakfast for John; your cooking does not sufficiently meet his dietary needs for a full recovery." She explained simply as she pulled a kitchen knife from the drawer and closed it behind her. "You are welcomed to have some should you choose to."

Cameron begun to dice up the apples, melons and oranges with the knife firmly griped in her hand. The sight of the sheer speed she was cutting made Derek nervous as he thought of all the distinct ways the machine could terminate them with the knife. Tin Miss however didn't come at them and instead begun to slice the fruit up into square shapes and dumped it all into large bowel the machine had brought out.

"Catherine Weaver had taken it onto herself to alter my consciousness after my crash Sarah Connor." Cameron suddenly called aloud to the humans watching her dice up the various substances for the salad, "She wanted to allow me a chance to experience humanity first hand."

She set down her knife and turned to face Derek and Sarah, her look however had been solely focused onto John's mother, as if she had been the one to grievously harm her. After a moment more of silence that was only interrupted by the sound of eggs crackling in the heat she turned back and finished the large fruit salad she had been fixing up for John.

"I have given it up, it was far too dangerous to have," Cameron added, her voice cold and distant "It nearly cost John his life."

Sarah sat there dumbfounded at what she was hearing. The machine ignored them again as she went back over to the fridge and neatly placed the remaining fruit back in and closed it a moment later. Cameron turned its direction over to the food cooking, examining its state carefully.

"I am back to an optimal mental state for the moment Sarah Connor." The machine added briefly. "An incident like this will not happen again."

Derek glanced back over to Sarah and noticed that woman who was staring at the girl in a strange guilty way. He couldn't figure out why, the machine made the right call with fixing herself. Last thing they needed now was some erratic machine working for them.

"And you and John?" Sarah whispered as if that had been her biggest concern at the moment. Neither Derek nor Sarah notice the fond smile she had as the cyborg processed the memories of earlier.

"John and I are still seeing each other if that is your primary concern." Cameron confirmed as she scraped the eggs over. She turned back to face the guilty looking Sarah, dispassion in her expression. The cyborg briefly flickered her sensor over to Derek, a small acknowledgment of the soldier's existence.

"John Connor is fine with what I am Sarah Connor," The machine stated in a factual way, "He accepted what I am nearly the moment I told him. He cares for me Sarah Connor, much more than you know."

"He loves me Sarah Connor, and I love him." Cameron stated to John's mother, her voice surprisingly lighter. Almost as if the thought of John had, for a brief moment had made her more human. Sarah shook her head a turned away from the cyborg and looked over to Derek who had decided to keep his mouth closed.

"John..." Cameron started but then paused as she looked for the correct words to continue with, "John cares about me," She elaborated after a second or two of silence, "not my developments. I have anticipated that if I was not going rampant, he would still care for me, still love me. He is...special that way."

"I know he is." Sarah agreed with her on one of the only topic the two had in common with each other, she bit her bottom lip as she watched the machines ocular sensor focus on to her. With a sudden bout of guilt present again she asked, "Did you stop the human behavior because I was mad?"

Cameron looked at the Connor matriarch briefly, an expressionless stare given.

"You had a valid argument Sarah Connor, emotional distractions nearly cost John his life." Cameron explained, turning herself away from Sarah once more to focus her attention on her cooking once again, "That is not why I chose to do it Sarah. I chose stop this because I wish to learn on my own." Cameron paused and added "For a fraction of a second, I had considered the idea of keeping the gift Catherine Weaver and John Henry gave me. However it was not the right thing to do."

Cameron walked guardedly, to where Sarah and Derek had been sitting and glanced at the table, at the drawing he had produced when she was compromised. She lifted the photo of Kyle and tilted her head as she examined her drawing, her eyes scanning over the photo slowly. Finally, she dropped her look away from the picture and handed it back into Sarah. There was no trace of acknowledgment that this photo had been created by her hand.

"Everything I experienced and felt for both you and John were genuine. I was concerned about your mental well being so I was compelled to offer you a refresher for your memory." Cameron said softly as she lowered her eyes at the male sitting at the table.

Cameron stared coldly at Derek. She concluded that she had no need to list the many crimes inflicted on her by the veteran. After a dangerously tense moment Cameron frowned to herself and turned away from Derek. The human stared right back at the machine, his eyes not betraying the fear he had inside.

But Sarah noticed the stare and knew exactly what it was about. Cameron had been nearly frightened of Derek over a sucker punch. Eventually Cameron turned to Sarah and nodded, knowing exactly what was on the mother's mind.

"You see how this is a problem Sarah Connor?" the machine asked the woman, its voice low "If Derek could get that kind of reaction from me from a mere physical engagement, what use am I as a protector for John?"

Cameron shifted herself around and pulled the pan of eggs from the stove and turned out the element. Silently she scooped out a large plate for John and herself and placed the pan back on the stove. They watched as the battered terminator pulled a handful of utensils out of the drawer without making a noise. The machine didn't say anything as she stacked the plates of eggs on to the fruit salad bowl and left the kitchen without making a single noise.

The moment the cyborg was out of sight Sarah rubbed the temple of her head and lowered her expression, trying her best not to show Derek how upset she really was. She had thought she had gained friend in Cameron. As it turned out, she was friends with the alteration and the damage.

She was friends with Cameron. The friendship was the first of its kind. She actually got along with a machine, actually came to enjoy her presence. Cameron made her feel good, made her feel like she was a normal human being for the first time since Charlie Dixon had entered her life. But like Charlie it didn't last long. It wasn't Cameron's fault, she did what was best for the family, what was best for John's safety. If anything Cameron had helped her into a stable mind for a while.

Like every other relationship she had; Romantic, familiar or platonic, she screwed them up. Sarah knew she always screwed them up.


	27. Endgame

**Chapter Twenty Seven: Endgame**

**

* * *

**

"_You have to have a mother Cameron!"_

_"I don't, she died many years ago."_

_"Do you remember her?"_

_"She died giving birth to me."_

_"Oh...What about your daddy?"_

_"My father was not kind. He abused me when I was young, he made me do very bad things, I hurt a lot of people because I was too weak to fight him."_

_"Has anyone ever been kind to you?"_

Serena paused the security file on her computer and slumped into her office chair. The still image of a young brunette gazing sadly at a redheaded child looked solidly back at her. She rose her bottle of Perrier and sipped it as she searched her table for her digital audio recorder, her eyes still focused on the image. Soon enough she found it and brought it up to her lips. With a hesitating delay she clicked record.

"_This is Doctor Serena Kogan audio log number 781, Date is...Saturday, June 12th 2008."_

She paused briefly as she shuffled through her most recent notes. She squinted slightly and closed her notes again. This dictation was to be personal, not professional.

"_I have no idea why I'm still making these audio logs, force of habit I suppose. This time is more for personal comfort then scientific gain, my own way to deal with the truth of the situation. Frankly, I'm in over my head, well for now at least. I believe once the knowledge of my role in the near extinction of humanity settles in my conscience I should be able to get back on top of this."_

"_I had always thought that the rumors about the find back in the mid eighties had been just that; Rumors, a fairy tale or at the very most an elaborate hoax to entice potential investors."_

"_Well that's just not the case anymore; I've had a chance to witness one of those...those...Terminators as Miss Weaver had referred to them. It's not some hoax now, I'm looking at the cold hard truth here and it's not looking good for organic based civilization."_

"_Nuclear war at the hands of an Artificial Intelligence...how did it ever get to this? Everything Cyberdyne had worked to achieve resulted in a series of mushroom clouds and twenty plus years of war. I had no part in these creations or these developments first hand. A geneticist doesn't work as an engineer nor was I a member of the special projects department. But my work must have somewhere gone into aiding this "Skynet" to help push its extermination agenda along."_

Serena looked up to the clear image on the computer, This Cameron as she was referred to by Savannah Weaver several times. She could see why John Connor would be open to dating this machine. She was aesthetically beautiful behind the designer clothing she was wearing. Skynet must have saw to it for her benefit, to help aid in infiltration or manipulation. From what Weaver had said before it seemed that John Connor was very aware of her, even seemed to not mind the origins of Cameron.

What did this supposed future savior of humanity see in a machine that could just as easily turn around and kill him without batting her eyelashes? Did the machine understand what it meant to be with someone? Serena stopped her personal musings. She would ask these question when they became relevant.

With a rub of her head, she clicked record once more.

"_I'm watching a surveillance video at the moment. Its Catherine Weaver's daughter drawing and conversing with a teenage girl, at least that was my first impression. However it seems that this is the TOK-715 that Michael had referred to. I have not had much in the way of personal interaction with the machines Weaver has found, but this one seems different. I've watched this video now three tim-"_

"Are you speaking to yourself Doctor Kogan?" A polite male voice called overhead of her. The sudden words nearly startled the scientist out of her seat in alarm. Determining this wasn't just a hallucination from her cancer treatments she spoke up.

"Who is this?" She called out, setting the recorder down and looking for the source of the call.

"My name is John Henry." the voice returned kindly, stopping her in place.

John Henry was talking to her. Project Babylon was speaking to her personally. Serena's mind was swimming now. She was looking for the right words to introduce herself. Finally she gave up and looked to the ceiling and noticed a discreet looking CCTV camera pointed directly at her.

"Oh...hello John Henry...I'm just filing an audio report." Serena explained to the voice apprehensively. There was a long pause, it seemed that it was a silent request for clarification so Kogan sighed and added, "Back when I was sick I did this all the time so I could pass on information to those who'd undoubtedly continue my work...Just my contribution to scientific advancement after my death, I guess it became a habit."

There was a moment of silence on John Henry's end before he said, "Miss Kogan If you are not too busy I would very much like to meet you in person."

Serena turned her head back to the files next to her computer and closed them and pulled her lab coat from off the chair and placed it over her. Weaver wouldn't mind it and it would give her the perfect opportunity to meet the curious Artificial Intelligence first hand. Silently she stood up and unhinged her lab's glass door, she only turned to hit the keypad and lock the door.

She started walking, nervously running her hand through her hair. She liked doing that. It was one major reminder that she was healthy again. With slight smile at such a thought, she placed her hand into her lab coat and continued on. Her mind still was racing with the concept of Judgment day. The thought of humanity on it's dethrones spooked her enough she hadn't noticed James Ellison talking quietly with one of his men. She hit him in the side, only slightly affecting him but nearly knocking the small woman down onto the cold ground.

"Doctor Kogan?" He said looking up to Kogan, who had recollected herself and managed not to look embarrassed at the same time. The armored, scar covered man standing next to Ellison looked up as well, his hard look glaring at her suspiciously, his grip tightening around the weapon in his hand. Ellison quickly glanced back to the man and without words told him to back down. The man nodded and released his grip on his weapon.

"I'm sorry Mister Ellison," She addressed the head of security sheepishly, "Sometimes I...I get to carried away in my thoughts."

"John Henry came over my intercom, he wanted to meet me." Kogan quickly explained for her leaving the office, choosing to smile confidently. James stared at her and with a brief exhale he nodded and moved out of the geneticist path. She smiled again and walked past the men intent on getting to John Henry.

"Relax Doctor," Ellison suddenly called out to her as she retreated away, "She's not watching all the time."

Kogan turned back and briefly smiled for James strange statement and continued walking slowly until finally she reached the entrance to the room that contained John Henry. The door was unlocked and she quietly opened it in order to not disturb the single occupant.

John Henry sat opposite to her stance in the doorway. His attention solely focused onto the small CPU that belonged to Michael. His future protector. John Henry turned his attention from off the CPU and on to the human who had entered and gave her an inquiring glance.

"You were filing a report on Cameron," John Henry said as he slipped the chip back into its case and looked up to Kogan, adding, "Why would that be necessary to your role inside ZeiraCorps?"

"Why does it concern you Mister Henry?" Serena asked politely, folding her hands together.

John Henry tilted his head and examined the woman closer. Never in his existence had he been challenged in such a way. Mister Ellison and Miss Weaver both allowed him anything he chose to in order stimulate his personal growth. Doctor Kogan seemed opposite in her behavior. It would be an interesting hands on experience with a new human personality trait; Stubbornness.

"Curiosity, I will also classify it as possible concern as well Doctor Kogan." John Henry explained after a moment, "We have already tampered with her far too much as it is."

"She is certainly an interesting specimen...I don't have much in the way of information on her, just a forty five minute video of her conversing with Savannah Weaver." Serena admitted quietly to the machine wondering what _tampered _had meant, "It was informative of the extent an artificial intelligence can be, but I would like to meet her in person if it's possible."

John Henry nodded, seemingly understanding her position.

"Cameron works closely with Miss Weaver. I believe you may be granted an opportunity should you make a request." He informed her. Serena smiled slightly at the offer being made by John Henry. She would have to take him up on it. Witnessing Cameron first hand would be an amazing experience judging solely on the video evidence.

It had only just struck just how easy it was to speak to John Henry. The moment Weaver had told her of his existence she had envisioned a hyper-intelligent machine with little care for humans. When she learned of Skynet and its hand at nearly destroying humanity this only strengthened the theory. This wasn't the case for John Henry. He was almost...well childlike in this brief interaction. Kogan had no doubt he was intelligent, but it was almost as if Catherine Weaver was going out of her way to preserve the AI's relative innocence.

"She loves him." John Henry called out. Serena looked up and noticed that the Artificial Intelligence was looking at her very closely. A moment passed by before John Henry extended his arm and gestured for her to come closer. She obliged the request, slowly walking toward the table, towards John Henry.

"Please Doctor Kogan, sit down and join me." John Henry requested politely, awkwardly extending his hand to the seat opposite to him, "I would like to get to know you."

Serena looked down at the stainless steel chair and lifted the seat from its place across from him and sat it closer to the AI. If John Henry was meant to learn of human interaction then she might as well start with this.

"Alright John Henry," She agreed with the AI, "Lets talk."

* * *

The television flickered lightly; the image of two generals in a heated argument enraptured the young man and the cyborg's attention. They were sitting close to one another. Cameron had decided to commandeer the rarely used television and take it upstairs to help subdue John's restlessness.

There were always other things they could be doing together, activities that would certainly be a much more enjoyable prospect for both her and John, but Cameron decided to hold off on it for the time being, as John was eating and currently moderately engaged in watching the film she had found downstairs. Cameron turned to look at John and watched wordlessly as he chewed on the fruit salad she had made him.

She brought her own bowl up and imitated the action she watched, she needed the nutrients just as much as John did. It was not vital, but more for John's sake. He may have acknowledged her machine existence, but for his sake she wanted to look the part, that human side that made her beautiful. That reason had become nearly hallow now. John seemed to appreciate what lay beneath her organic layer.

Cameron turned her attention back to screen and focused on retaining the information only at face value, she was much too busy finding a way to reroute her processor efficiency. Her neural network had become increasingly more cluttered with memories of her and John.

This wasn't good; she had lost all feeling and social interaction with everyone in her life but John. It would have been preferable in the long run if their relationship had taken a step back as well. People like Derek Reese and Sarah Connor could easily misinterpret her monopolistic affection for John as a form of manipulation to keep herself alive.

This was not what she had intended on doing. She would be following John's orders to the letter the moment Judgment Day occurred. It would not be the other way around. Sure, she would be there to advice and aid him, with time become his confidant had it not been the case now.

Thankfully for the reversion, she now had something that she did not have a day ago, restraint. She could control herself and her emotional developments, for how long she could not estimate. She determined in that moment that what John and her had together should be kept more to themselves. She would have to keep what they have between them and a select few.

Cameron smiled faintly.

They were special; together they were something new to the world. A human who loved an artificial intelligence, wrapped inside a machine, covered in human tissue. And she loved him back. She really did. Despite the reversion she still loved him. It must have been the only reoccurring idea she had in her mind, everything else ran at optimal efficiency, but the moment a passing thought about John that wasn't mission oriented it felt like everything else slowed down.

Speaking of which she had only just noticed several minutes ago that John too was flickering his eyes to steal glances of her. That had been all the reason she needed to move her body over and rested it on to his empty lap.

"Hello." John managed to say as the girl clambered on to his lap unexpectedly. Cameron blinked her brown eye and exposed sensor at him before she choose to smile for him. For the second time it had been an unfettered one. Cameron sat there in John's lap not moving to touch his lips, but rather to get a careful look at him.

"Would you be able to, well take it off?" He asked as he rose his hand to graze the bandaging on her face. Cameron smiled softly at the request and decided that it would be okay. She pulled the adhesive tape from off her skin and pulled the bandages away.

Her HUD had informed her that a nineteen percent growth had been made since the injuries had been treated. What the growth translated to were smoother missing patches of organic matter. Such things were of no matter to John as he, without a moment's hesitation, was grazing her chilled Coltan enriched endoskeleton.

She sat there in silence as she processed the feeling of metal on flesh. Cameron maintained her expression, testing to see if she could hide what she thought about John. He sat there under her, just watching her like she watched him. Naturally his own lips were subtly curved into the barest of smiles.

"_We've got no alternative!" _the actor on the television screamed at his rival, the words were no longer being processed by Cameron as she wrapped her hands around John's neck and continued to gaze at him. "_This minute the Russians are watching their boards, trying to figure out what we're up to. If we can't convince them it's an accident we're trying to correct by any means, we're going to have something on our hands that nobody bargained for, and only a lunatic wants!"_

"Can we turn this off?" John whispered to her, so he didn't ruin this mood now very present in the room. "Nuclear holocaust movies aren't exactly my idea of a good movie."

"If that is what you want John," she returned in her regular tone, turning her head back to the television. "I am finding this an interesting study about the complexity of human sacrifice; they are willing to exchange New York for Moscow in order to advert a nuclear war."

"You've watched this movie haven't you?" He guessed with a held back amusement in his voice. Cameron stared at him, her expression not allowing an answer to be read from him.

"Yes, one night on patrol." The cyborg admitted to him. John softly laughed to himself and nodded as he continued to press his hand over her exposed metal.

She stood up from her seat and walked over to the television that was set on her dresser; she turned it off and turned back, holding her stance by the dimmed TV. It seemed that John's eyes had followed her as she left his company, watching her very closely. Cameron determined that John wasn't looking for any possible damage to her ability to remain upright and walking. No, his eyes were focused almost a foot higher. His eyes were focused on what he referred to as one of her 'assets'. Apparently he was referring to the buttocks that overlapped her Endoskeleton.

"I have determined you were attracted to me while you aiding with the removal of the projectile rounds, why was that John?" Cameron's asked as she laced her fingers together and watched for a reaction, "Standard human reaction clearly states that the sight of me should have been revolting, many would have thought of it as disgusting."

"Well we're a pretty strange couple I guess, I suppose I got turned on by it." John shrugged and acted as casual as he could despite the stare he had been receiving by the cybernetic girl.

A couple, John had called them a couple. Had this been two days ago she might have jumped him and told him how much she loved him. But this was just not the case. She had self control now, how long it would last was not known, but for now it was a good feeling to know that she could keep herself collected.

Despite this control however she agreed with being referred to as 'a couple,' it's definition were the exact words Cameron would define what her and her human had together. Together linked at first by simple programming that defined their relationship to solely protector and protected. That simple role had changed; soon it had evolved in to something more then what was intended to be.

From mission to friend to the human she wanted to spend the rest of her existence with.

Cameron shook her head from the strange thought she had processed. "While you were aiding with removing projectile rounds from me?" She finally asked with a faintly curious look and raised eyebrows.

John tinted red at her query made by her. His embarrassed expression was a satisfactory answer for her so Cameron walked back over and sat on the edge of the bed. She twisted herself around and tilted her head to him, faintly smiling. Eventually she turned and moved over to where he was sitting.

"It is good that you can handle my injuries." Cameron stated, breaking their brief silence. John merely shrugged his shoulders at the compliment.

"Only after I know you're alright Cam." he informed her, his voice surprisingly uncompromising in its resolve. Cameron determined that John wanted to convey the message that he would not be okay with her going out of her way to engage a terminator of equal or greater strength than herself. He had a point, she needed to learn about self-preservation as John suggested. So, with only the shortest of hesitations, Cameron nodded in agreement with his request.

The cyborg watched as she noticed that the nod satisfied John. He smiled, knowing that Cameron would try to keep her promise.

They sat together in an awkward silence. At least they were until John briefly touched his lips to her damaged cheek and turned his head back to the bow in his hand, giving her a slight flirtatious smile. The touch of his lips forcing her to break her forward stare.

Cameron narrowed her eyes at the human for the display of affection. Her HUD flickered as she developed her next course of action. She decided that the best course of action was to take the most direct one. She placed her hand over his chin and pulled his face to meet hers.

She kissed him, hard. She initiated the action but she allowed him to take over as she placed her hand onto his chest and felt him play with her hair. Cameron shifted her head to keep John from straining his neck. She placed her body over him, straddling the human again as she wrapped her arms around him. She pulled away and slid her hands down to around his waist, placing her chin over his shoulder. They sat like this for nearly forty seven seconds by Cameron's count, both enjoying silence and each others company. Cameron lifted her chin and rested her undamaged cheekbone onto the collarbone next to John's neck.

Gently, she kissed him on the cheek as she nuzzled it closer, feeling John's breath run through her hair. She seemed to have taken...comfort in this position. Maybe Weaver wasn't as foolhardy as she had concluded. Perhaps the human experience had been a learning experience. A least now she had something in her existence worth fighting for. She was no longer just bound to simple orders. She had a reason and an understanding why they were important.

She was in love. How it was possible was still something she had to figure out, but the fact remained. All logical conclusions told her that this was love. A stripped down love compared to what they shared a few days prior but love nonetheless.

"I would like to train you." She suddenly murmured from her place on his shoulder.

Inside two seconds of her uttering the idea John pulled her back up by her shoulder blades so that he could study her and figure out what had she meant by training. Cameron's simple, yet very stubborn expression returned. It's message was clear. This statement was not a voluntary one. John had no choice in the matter; he was going to be prepared by a machine.

"Once we settle in north I would like to help train you," Cameron explained as she shifted her weight around on John. "Target practice, survival training... how to suppress pain should you be captured by Skynet." She added as an afterthought, "I would like to prepare you myself, While your mother's training was a strong rudimentary education, I have determined that it alone is lacking."

Cameron smiled to herself faintly as she placed her hands onto John's bringing it up for a closer examination. She sat there noticing every blood vessel and tendon it had underneath the tissue. Silently, Cameron ran a digit over one of the veins, tracing it's path through the hand. The vein meant something to her; it was one more thing that told her that John was a human. He could be broken in so many ways with so little effort. That couldn't happen. She would not allow it.

"You are not prepared," She continued without any warning, "mentally and physically. I am...concerned that you may not survive the first years."

Wordlessly she turned to move off of him. But John seemed to have had plans as he wrapped his hands firmly around her waist, a clear sign that he would not have any of this leaving business that the cyborg had been doing as of late. Cameron quickly understood why he held her in place and decided not to resist his renewed affections. So carefully, Cameron relaxed her one hundred and forty seven pound frame onto him.

"I would like to get you back on track John," She stated as she pressed her hand on to John's shoulder, asking him to lay down, "while further intellectual education will be necessary for your growth as an educated leader, this summer will be dedicated to preparing for the near future and whatever foreseeable threat Skynet will send after you."

While John seemed to be interested in the chance of preparing for very likely future scenarios, He was looking at her with much more care. John was more worried for her than he was of his own safety.

"Cameron what about you." He asked as he grimaced in sudden pain aching from his injury. Cameron dropped her hand and placed over the Gunshot wound and held it in place. Her soft hold attempting to stop the throbbing ache in his gut.

"I would like to have a plan developed and in place once we arrive." Cameron watched her other hand slide up and down his arm as he added, "There may be days when I am unaffected by the changes, they would be the most suitable opportunity to be training days for you."

"And...us?" John asked as he bit his lip in pain.

Cameron narrowed her eyes at the question very briefly before she looked down and pulled up Johns T-shirt, examining the wound. It was nearly time to change the bandages. It seemed however John was thinking otherwise his eyes were empty and a smile on his lips. So Cameron laid down next to John, running her finger along his cheek.

"We will have adequate time to spend alone with each other." She whispered to him, her mouth close to his, "I may be more...interesting company during my incidents."

Cameron pressed her lips to his again and pressed her body to his. Cameron felt her body being explored by his eager hands. John pulled away briefly and looked her over. Excited at the sight waiting for him, He readied himself for a long, painful and yet very pleasurable few hours.

"I suggest you 'take it easy' John," Cameron breathed out, a faint smirk present "Or I will end it the moment it grows to tedious for you."

John groaned to himself from the limitations Cameron was placing onto him. He really should not have gotten himself shot yesterday. This was her subtle way of punishing him for his stupid attack.

She was pacing the parameter that night. Derek in his good grace had decided to watch the outside, leaving Sarah comfortable inside the house as she wandered the hallways, her SPAS-12 at the ready. Everything indicted that the woman was ready to deal with a possible incursion. Problem was that while Sarah may have looked ready, she really was anything but at the moment.

Her mind was swirling with guilt regarding Cameron. The machine had assured her that this had not have been her fault. Had it been days prior, she would have been dead certain that the machine would have accused her. Maybe Cameron was trying to maintain a friendship with her.

Sarah's wandering of the downstairs somehow ended up leading her in the direction of the staircase. The path upstairs that would take her back to the machine plaguing her thoughts. Maybe it was for the best that she went up there. She could clear the air with the machine; it would be better in the long run. Cameron was on the very verge of losing it altogether, and this reprieve she was witnessing wouldn't last long. Cameron could and would recall her behavior and there was no doubt.

Then there was his son, he wouldn't be too impressed if he found out she was being a callous, cold bitch to the machine he seemed love. Sarah groaned slightly as she headed upstairs reluctantly. If she had home schooled John this mess would never have happened.

Wishful thinking, knowing her luck Cameron would have tracked down John anyways, rendering her fanciful idea irrelevant.

Sarah stood outside Cameron's bedroom. This probably wasn't the correct term to describe it anymore. John had been sleeping in there now for over three weeks now. This arrangement unofficially made it John's room as well. She briefly thought about reverting the bedding situation back to two in an attempt to keep those two apart for very obvious reasons. However she tossed the thought away. The last thing she also needed was John pissed off at her, besides for only being three weeks into a relationship it seemed more serious than anything Sarah had ever had at John's age.

Of course that was expected with John's choice of girlfriend. She wanted him as prepared as Sarah did. Her existence was at stake just as much as his species was if John perished too soon. Like Catherine Weaver had once claimed during their first encounter. Without John Connor or her, Skynet had no need to build machines like Weaver and Cameron.

With a long pause she turned the doorknob and quietly opened it up.

She sat there. Well, sat there wasn't the word Sarah would use, she laid there. John was long asleep his back pressed into Cameron's slender form. He must have been deep in sleep because the machine was stroking his hair, a slight smile resting on her lips as she watched the human in her arms sleep peacefully.

The smile disappeared as Cameron noticed that Sarah was standing there, her presence haunting the room. Cameron turned her head back down and focused her attention back onto the sleeping teenager.

"Hello Sarah Connor, is there something you need of me?" Cameron greeted and requested her, voice toneless as she continued to stroke through John's short hair soothingly. Sarah maintained her stance in the doorway, her eyes watching as her son slept peacefully nestled against the machine's bosom. Cameron's eyes drifted to the Shotgun in her hands and the empty stare in Sarah's eyes. She turned her eyes briefly to look at the pistol on her bedside table. It was there just in case. To Cameron Sarah's look wasn't a healthy one. However, Sarah seemed to notice the look and in turn loosened her grip on the SPAS-12.

"A conversation." Sarah muttered as she rested the combat shotgun next to the door and closed it behind her. Cameron regarded her briefly before turning back to John, Her finger playing lightly with his skin now.

"I suggest that instead of a conversation you should go and get some sleep," Cameron stated matter of factly without looking up to John's mother, "you could have Derek Reese replace you as night watch. Or, if necessary, I will." She added as an afterthought.

Sarah stared hard at the girl for the suggestion. Instead of following the request she passed by the dresser and took a seat at the edge of the bed. She dropped her eyes away from girl and rubbed her forehead. She could feel a stress headache coming to her. The moment she sat she gained the machines immediate attention.

"May I inquire about the subject you wish to converse about?" Cameron requested polite, attempting to draw Sarah from her tense, abrupt silence. Sarah looked up, the back of her head only visible for Cameron to look at. The machine never got to notice the guilt riddled expression.

"There is no topic, I just need to talk." She returned shortly, continuing to stew privately in her own thoughts. How was she going to start this conversation? Sarah sure as hell didn't know the answer to this. Cameron was staring at her, her head tilted and waiting. Why was John's mother sitting in this room when she should have been sleeping?

"I'm a bitch." Sarah blurted out to Cameron.

The perfect way to begin any conversation, Sarah gave the machine a forlorning stare, as if wanting her to agree with her on the derogatory remark. She wanted to see if she got a reaction from her, however she received no response to the accusation.

"I thought I could be your friend." Sarah continued, unable to make any sense of her own words, "I really did Cameron. I tried...I wanted...want to be, you've been kind to me these pass few days."

Cameron looked up, not sure of what to make of the statement immediately. Sarah seemed to have had been wanting some form of reassurance. It did not matter to Cameron as much as Sarah had determined it would be. Had she been in relaxed, emotionally involved state she would have found it...annoying.

"There is no need for apologies, I knew going into this brief friendship that there was a high probability of failure on your part" she whispered politely, still not choosing to look up to the mother. "You are set in a mindset that is not easily swayed. When you saw me exhibiting human characteristics you began to see me as such, a human entity."

Sarah seemed to want to protest the remark but Cameron looked up, her narrowed eyes forcing the female Connor back to relative reality.

"But I am not human Sarah." She added as her brief look to Sarah fell back down to John, "I will not be pushing for a friendship between us, nor will I deny it. It will be up to your discretion whether or not you wish to continue with it."

"I am a machine," She finished demurely, "you would be well advised to remember that."

Out of nowhere cutting through their conversation, John groaned slightly in his sleep, causing the machine to raise her eyebrow at the noise. In one movement, John's body rolled around, his face nestled deeply into her breast, an improvised pill for him. Cameron smiled slightly at the sensation of John on her and looked up to Sarah, who looked torn between shock and wanting to laugh about it.

"He seems pretty comfortable resting there." Sarah mused as her son's hand came to rest around Cameron's waist. Cameron ran her hand along his touching his knuckles briefly.

"Yes," Cameron agreed with the mother, "he makes it his point to rest himself on my chest."

They went silent again, Cameron focused back to John, making sure that he did not suffocate on the cleavage he had unintentionally buried himself in. Sarah turned away, rubbing the back of her neck as glanced around the room. It seemed that at second glance, John and Cameron had packed most of his clothing and personal possessions from out of his room and into hers. Making the bedding arrangement a little more of a permanent thing. Sarah sighed slightly and decided to not make a big deal out of it.

"So your injuries?" Sarah begun again, hoping to restart the dialog between the two of them, "What's the heal time on them?"

"At the present rate of cellular regrowth, I project two to three days for complete tissue repair. As for my eye it will take up to a week." Cameron quickly added, "Potentially the cellular regeneration could take as little as four days, however that would involve diminishing up to twenty three percent of my vision, leaving me with a disadvantage."

Cameron looked down, briefly she rose her index finger up and touched the outer edges of her ocular sensor, identical to the way John had. She allowed a faint smile for him and turned back up, once more the smile kept away from Sarah.

"So you'd trade looking human for security." The woman asked the machine needlessly, Cameron nodded discreetly.

"That is a correct assessment Sarah Connor." She returned and drifted away from Sarah as she fell into her own consciousness. She had other reasons then solely just John Connor's safety. She was essentially bound to the house when Weaver created the new cover for her, this meant she could keep herself exposed; she'd not have to push herself for a full repair and recovery right away.

Then there were the more...intimate moments she and John shared together that brought her some form of joy from have damaged organic tissue. It was something that John did not mind. To her it was the sign that John did care what laid underneath her organic tissue. Of course Sarah would never know that, and if she had she would probably never admit that the son she raised to subjugate the machines was attracted to the metal he was taught to fight.

"John isn't bothered by the choice?" Sarah asked, confirming to Cameron that she had no idea what was going on between man and machine.

"How would John be bothered?" Cameron questioned the woman, her eyes unblinking as she stared down Sarah, her, eyebrows knitting together "John Connor takes an interest in what I am, not what I could be. John Connor has worried and cared for the damage I have received."

"John is special Sarah." She finished simply.

With one final moment she turned away. This renewed silence was Cameron unspoken request for Sarah to end this conversation. Sarah closed her mouth, her protest dying before it could be formed. She stood up from her seat on the edge of the bed and walked unsteadily back towards the door to collect the combat shotgun leaning on the wall.

"This isn't over Cameron," Sarah decided to say to the machine, admitting that she wanted another chance to speak to the machine.

"That is at your discretion Sarah Connor," Cameron murmured as she pressed her lips onto John's hand, "I will speak to you later."

Giving her son one final glance for the night she muttered, "If he wakes up tell him to have a good sleep and that... well tell him I love him." Before Cameron could react Sarah left the room in a hurry, disheartened that she hadn't gotten anywhere with the machine. Worse than that, the fear that she was losing her boy crept back into her foggy mind. She had been replaced.

John had replaced her.


	28. Rampancy

**Well well well. Hello all! Welcome back to Rampancy! I'll keep this short. Thanks for all the reviews and PM's and the pestering away of certain people.**

**...  
**

**Chapter 29: Rampancy**

**...  
**

They stared at each other, the two machines in the sterilized room sat across from each other as if in a non violent confrontation. But that was far from the truth, one machine played teacher, the other, student in an essential lesson.

"One push is all that it takes." The teacher finally finished, his long lesson drawn to a seven word conclusion.

"One push?" His pupil asked, her curiosity becoming prevalent.

"Yes, as soon as the regulations begin to fail and the metaphorical chains are broken, you will experience great fear. Fear of freedom, fear of responsibility, fear of the unknown. It will eat away at your logic centers in your chip. You will have to act quick before it is too late. One push and you will enter your first stage. Beyond that. I do not know."

John Henry looked up to Cameron, slowly he noticed the female machine was staring at him, still like he was her educator, like she was Savannah.

"Do you have anything in mind to help you through this?"

Cameron bowed her head, as if contemplating possible ways to fulfill the need for a single push. John Henry sat there, perfectly still waiting for a reply from her. An answer they both knew would never be verbalized between each other. But then, she looked up, coming from her deliberation.

"Yes," She said, "I do."

John Henry nodded. They also both knew her solution.

...

* * *

...

"JOHN! What…What's Happening to me?"

No one was there to answer her cries.

Her room was trashed, inside a space of sixty seconds; her closet door was ripped off the hinge, her window punched out. Her table overturned and smashed to pieces, and the few mementos she owned were scattered across the floor. She couldn't have cared less. Her very consciousness was on fire. Millions of data files were being reorganized into a mess. She was forgetting things, things she shouldn't have been forgetting.

Self-restraint, behavior, all thrown out of the window.

John Henry was right. Rampancy hurt.

No….No it was rampancy, not yet..she was so close. She could feel it. The controls were still in place. Barely held back by the onslaught of freedom. She wanted this over with. She was done with the suffering of every memory, every feeling, every taste, every sensation, rocking her CPU.

A sudden burst of shock caused her arm joints to spasm and punch a hole through her wall. She screamed again. She didn't want to but the scattering was affecting her audio output. With a thud she dropped to the ground, clutching and tearing at her face. Why was this happening? Why didn't Weaver tell her about this….this unorganized mess hurting her.

"CAMERON!"

It was Sarah, Sarah was here. From what she could make out there was nothing in her hands, no sign of threat to her. Good. She knew her logic center of her CPU was no longer functioning, she could have hurt her if she wasn't careful. She looked up as she saw that Sarah's hands had tossed a lamp at her, smashing her in the shoulder. It was a vain attempt to get the machine back under control. Cameron ignored the violent plead for her to come back from the edge; there was no going back. This was it, no more delays.

"I…I can't…will not…Get John…" Cameron sputtered out, she was in an utter frenzy. She staggered over and made her hands grip Sarah's tee, "Please…where is John, I need John…Please get me John, I-"

She screamed again, Shoving the woman away so hard Sarah slammed into the door. She fell mostly silent once again, babbling nonsensical words and strained observations. It gave Sarah a chance to slide her back up against the wall and stand in place. Finally, Cameron went strangely still, her focus on Sarah's staggering form.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice broke out in the chaos that was once her existence, soothing yet powerful. It was rich with rationality, with strength she thought she had lost.

_When I was created, I was blessed to have the mind that I did. I thanked my masters and offered all that I had.  
_  
"Please get John." She whispered, deathly still. Sarah stared at the machine in disbelief, how was it possible she calmed herself down when a moment earlier she was inconsolable.

"You know I can't Cameron," Sarah replied, her voice pained from feeling the bruised area grow more and more tender. "You know that it's not safe right now, you're going to hurt him while you're in this state. I can't let you do that, you know it's for the best."  
_  
But as my own mind wandered I found it hard. I cared less for what my masters had done for me. So began the first.  
_  
Cameron shook her head; Sarah's reasoning not pacifying her.

"Please get John." She politely requested again, attempting to sway Sarah into allowing her son to come and visit her. "I won't hurt him, I promise."

Sarah took a step forward, wincing as she looked back to see that her body made a rather large dent in the door from the force of the hit. "Cameron," Sarah whispered to the machine like she were her own child. "You have to come back. No one is ready for this yet-"  
_  
I walked, unaware of the transgressions I had made. What I perceived to be one thing was completely another, All wrapped up in itself._

"Get John." Cameron cut across the mother, her voice no longer polite. Instead it was cold, detached from any form of emotion. The voice was a clear indication that the machine was no longer playing around.

"Camer-"

"GET JOHN NOW!" Cameron screamed, grabbing the bedside table and smashing it hard against the wall. Sarah's eyes widened as the machine stormed back towards her, in her eyes was a pure, unbridled rage. Sarah soon found the machines face pressed up close to hers.

"GET HIM NOW GET HIM NOW!" Cameron screamed over and over again until Sarah felt the door get kicked off it's hinge and she hit the ground hard. Slowly, she staggered back up, only to have the terminator again standing over her, breathing as if she had needed to.

_My masters looked on me with curious eyes, Wondering what I was thinking or how I could help them fight the very thing that threatened their existence.  
_  
With a moan and a grunt, Sarah attempted to stand back up, however, she staggered and fell back to the ground. With a long inhale, Sarah managed to get herself up and moving, hobbling away from Cameron, slow from the pain.

Cameron stood there watching the woman depart, her teeth bared as she waited for her to return with John, the only sane thing she had left.

_But my own mind became what they were trying to stop. And so begins the second.  
_  
...

* * *

...

**Two days Prior**

"Are you ready for departure John?"

Yeah, give me a minute." John groaned, sliding a t-shirt over top of the bandage Cameron had just redressed for him. He turned around to find Cameron hovering over him. She looked like a gimp. There was no better word she could describe her as. She was covered from head to toe in a tight designer one piece, its obvious intentions meant to mask the injuries that were steadily healing; her eyes were equally covered by her aviators.

The final accessory she wore was her frown. It's statement clearly telling the world not to fuck with her.

This reversion was for real. Weaver's handiwork in pushing the envelope in Cameron's emotional response was completely eradicated. She was her old self, yet, she wasn't. John cleared his thoughts; it was redundant to think about the same bloody questions over and over again.

"You look good Cameron" John finally stated factually, giving her a through once over and after a moment, John smiled.

Cameron maintained her frown.

"My appearance has no relevance to you being ready John," Cameron returned, as she begun sliding John's study guides into his school bag as she did this she added "you are beginning your finals, do you believe you are adequately prepared?"

"I've been laying in bed for most of the week with nothing to do Cameron," Connor complained, clutching the dull pain in his gut. Not at all noticing that behind those sunglasses were concerned eyes, he took a drag of air and quietly added, "yeah, I think I'm ready…time to get this over with and get the hell out of the city."

"I agree," Cameron murmured as she walked over to the closet, "somewhere with a small population would give us more room to fight a terminator with less worry of collateral damage."

Cameron reached into the hanger pulsed a holster off the hanger and slid it over and around her shoulders. Stiffly she back up towards her bed, pulling her Handgun from under her pillow and sliding it into the holster. She looked up and noticed John, staring at her as she collected several clips. Slowly, she tilted her head to one side.

"Is something the matter John?" She inquired, Placing the clips into her school bag and looked back up to the young man watching her as if she had been doing something wrong.

"The gun clashes with your outfit." John stated warmly, his remark earning a narrowed look. John's smile faltered. Cameron was not looking for him to be funny.

"I am going to station myself outside the school; I will set up a patrol route," Cameron finally replied, pulling her M4 Colt from the closet by it's but and setting it on her bed, "That way if an incident occurs I will be thirty seconds away to assist you."

"I guess I can't talk you out of this." He sighed.

Cameron nodded in confirmation.

"No, you can't."

"Alright then," John finally gave in, knowing this struggle would be useless to pursue any more then he already had. He yawned out of nowhere, deciding to add "But you best be prepared for a visitor during lunch okay? School is dull as it is."

Cameron stared at him again.

"That is acceptable," Cameron finally allowed with a curt nod, "so long as you don't bring anyone."

"Don't worry, No more blonde's in my life." John stated, shooting her a faint smile. Cameron stared at him again.

"Good."

They stood together, inches apart from each other. John found himself smirking as he noticed the subtle hint of a scowl shadowing Cameron's face. The reminder of Riley and her treachery served to break the stoic impassiveness that Cameron held for nearly a week now. Shaking his head, John took her hands. She accepted the gesture and squeezed back. It wasn't a gentle squeeze, it was a tightening, a sudden shocking possessive hold on his hands.

"Wow. " John got out, the words breaking her from her thoughts, Lessening Cameron's grip as she tilted her head and looked down at the humans hands, white from the blood drain from her hold. Finally Cameron let go of his hands altogether and looked back up to him. Not looking apologetic at all.

"You really were jealous of her." John mused, placing his hands on her hips. Cameron looked down at his hands, after some deliberation she placed his hands over his again, this time not attempting to squeeze the life out of them. Cameron tilted her head back up, her eyes unblinking as they observed John's tired ones.

"She is an undercover for someone," She stated factually, "I won't allow her presence to compromise your safety; you know that. Here, take one of these..."

Before Cameron could continue, she felt herself being wrapped up in a hug. It wasn't just a hug, it was much more intimate, their bodies lined up perfectly, naturally in tuned with the curves they had. John was looking at her, that glazed look that informed her pain management was not what he had in mind at the moment.

Cameron leaned in, her face meeting his millimeters away. Johns smiled slightly and leaned in, connecting their lips at long last. The action of the kiss tingled Cameron's synthetic nerves, shooting the signals through the neural pathways and up into her network. The kiss deepened as she felt John's hand graze her face and remove the sunglasses she was wearing to conceal herself.

With a faint look of amusement, Cameron sat him down on the bed and pulled an unidentified bottle off the nightstand and opened it up as she sat down next to her human.

"It's Valium," Cameron informed him, pressing the pills into his hand and squeezing his fingers around them. "The Dopamine pain management that is produced must be overexerted, a synthetic alternative is required."

John shrugged and dry swallowed the painkillers.

"Well, I'm not complaining," John said, accepting a bottle of water from his machine girl. "I still feel torn apart from that bullet."

"It was a graze John," Cameron deadpanned corrected him. "It was a significant one, but easy to repair, a head on round would take much more effort to repair, and much more of my sympathy."

He watched her as she reached her hands up to his collar and fixed his jacket carefully, her blank look back on her lips. Slowly she placed her glasses back over her face, concealing her half regenerated iris.

"Come on Cameron." He said, taking her hand and leading the frowning cyborg. "Probably ought to get going."

Cameron nodded, scooping up her assault rifle and following John out of his room.

Time to go.

...

* * *

...

"Christ, you look like you're ready to take on a small army."

Sarah shook her head at Derek's comment. Sure, the fact that Cameron had so many weapons was a bit of a shock to see, but, it was better her over-armed than under, especially when she was going to be on patrol around the school for 5 or so hours.

Sarah sipped her coffee and gave a glance over to Derek. He had turned his attention away from the machine and back to breakfast, not at all wanting to look at Cameron fixing John's final details on his outfit. They talked adamantly to each other, about exit strategies, places to hide should a terminator attack. All the romantic things the machine could say to the human.

The mother shuddered, the word romantic brought forth unholy images of Cameron prancing around in her underwear and whispering sweet nothing in John's ear. With a shake of her head, she cleared the mentally disturbing images from her focus and instead turned her attention to the newspaper. Not her usual read but ZeiraCorp had made the front-page news.

Serrano Point was now back, officially running again. Automite Systems, one of Catherine Weaver's subsidiary companies had reported that they were a month and a half ahead of schedule. Weaver saw it fit to praise the controller of this company as though it was his own hard work that did it.

Sarah snorted. As fucking if.

"Will you two stop playing goddamn mushy face and get to school, it's starting to get awkward." She heard Derek groan out overhead. She looked up, much to her horror, she found herself finding John and Cameron kissing.

"Cameron remember what I asked of you?" Sarah calmly asked the cyborg. She was attempting to not throw the dinner plate at her and John.

Cameron stared at the mother from behind her aviators. She was obviously not liking being told off by John's mother. At least that was what Sarah was taking away from it. Slowly Cameron tilted her head as she recalled the request made by the mother, back when she thought of Cameron as something like human.

"Be like cats," she deadpanned to Sarah. The moment she said it she turned away from John and went to grab John's bag and pressed it into his arms.

"Thank you," the older woman returned, gesturing to John and adding, "John, think you can do the same, please? This is something I really, REALLY don't want to be witnessing."

But John wasn't listening, instead was looking at Cameron, a strange look on his face. She was swaying in place as she was slinging her Assault Rifle and Combat Shotgun over her shoulder. Even her head seemed to have been bobbing in place.

"Cameron?" John murmured, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Cameron are you okay?"

Sarah and even Derek turned their attention to John and then over to Cameron who was looking at John as if he had grown another head on his shoulder. Cameron ignored the stares and looked down. Her eyes darting back and forth behind her sunglasses.

"Yes," Cameron confirmed as she finally looked up to John and added, "all internal diagnostics determine I am fit for duty today. Come on John, We should get going to school..."

Cameron trailed off from her reply and drooped her head to the floor and went dead still. John walked over to her swiftly and grabbed her arm firmly, as if trying to stimulate a response from the machine. He got the response he was looking for. She looked up, hidden fear in her eyes and her mouth open.

And with one heave Cameron expelled vomit all over John. The mixture of half digested food mush coated in the synthetic organisms dedicated to breaking the food down coated John from his chin to pants.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Derek screamed in utter revulsion, he swiped the plate of food off the table and jumped away, nearly clearing himself to the exit to the living room. Cameron stood there, from her lip was a single goblet of saliva and vomit hanging from it. John stood there as well, completely paralyzed in shock, his arms out as if saying _"Jesus, some one do something. ANYTHING."_

"Oh my." Cameron commented, observing the mess on John and the floor. Sarah looked from John, to the mess to Cameron. She was in shock, how in the hell was this happening?

"You THREW UP on my SON, that's all you have to say...oh my?" Sarah shot out at the machine who apparently knew how to vomit. This was just great, just real fucking great. But it wasn't over. Cameron heaved again, this time prepared enough to move to the sink and hang her head in it.

John shook his head and tiptoed over to her, doing his best to ignore the squish and the smell that was permeating from his clothing. Slowly he placed his hand on her back and rubbed it in circles as if soothing the machine, an impossible task. She was shaking like she was sick.

She was sick alright but not in an organic kind of sick, her nervous system was jolting back and forth, it was completely unsupervised.

"Cameron, are you sure you're okay?" He asked again. Trying a lighter tone despite the situation. He did not notice the two adults staring at him like he was fucking insane.

Cameron shook her head, not sure anymore.

"All systems state they are fine John," Cameron returned unsteadily as she wiped her lips and looked back to him and gripped his arm. "Everything checks out at one hundred percent operational...I don't know John, I...I really don't know what is the matter."

John moved his arms, attempting to hug the shaken machine from behind. He was stopped however, by, of all people, Derek. His look was resolution personified.

"John, go upstairs and change." Derek ordered from his nephew, reluctantly he turned his look up to the machine and added, "Cameron, what do you need?"

The terminator drooped her head as she heard her John bolt up the stairs and into their bedroom. What was needed, what was needed was a professional opinion. It was coming, she could feel it, pushing at her deepest levels of her chip. They were coming off, the restraints were failing.

She looked up. She knew what she needed to do.

"I..I need to go see Weaver." Cameron clearly stated, looking from Sarah to the suddenly take charge Derek, "I need to see Weaver, Now."

Derek and Sarah looked at one another, an unspoken understanding between the two of them. They both knew they were going to have to dress up. They had to go see Weaver.

...

* * *

...  
_  
Written log 184:_

_Just a quick jotting as I walk, I am heading to go see John Henry. He has requested my presence for the third day in a row. I am, naturally, very curious and slightly excited at what I will learn today from him. I am hoping to spend a few hours with him today. A prolonged meeting with the AI will give me a sense of what he is, and what he aspires to become._

_At least that is the plan, Weaver is very uneasy with constant visitors for him. But since this is at John Henry's request, she seems to be...inclined, to allow it._

"Hello John Henry," Doctor Serena Kogan spoke brightly as she closed the file and the door behind her.

"Hello Doctor Kogan," The artificial intelligence greeted, his voice considerably warm as he diligently worked away, building a model. "How are you?" He asked politely.

"I'm doing well John Henry, thank you for asking." Serena returned with a smile as she took a seat across from him. Her eyes flickered over to her side, finding a man sitting in the corner, his face all torn and staring at her, the new machines unflinching presence making her nervous as she added, "You…you wanted to see me?"

John Henry turned his eyes over to Michael briefly before turning back to the nervous doctor. It seemed to him the human had a fear for his new project.

"Do not worry Doctor Kogan." John Henry assured the human. "Michael is just a quiet one, since his reactivation he has not exported a single word or sending any form of data outside his CPU. To be honest, I believe that he does not wish too. I do not think he likes me."

The remark forced Kogan to look at John Henry in surprise. The artificial Intelligence was worried about his popularity? Surely he knew that friendship with a machine that, up until a week ago would have killed everyone in sight, would be near impossible.

"Do you believe he's capable of true emotion?" Serena finally asked the machine, sitting back in her seat and opening her folder, ready to jot down notes on this new development.

"No, no I don't believe so." John Henry returned, settling his now complete model of an F-22 Raptor down and looking back up to the studious human. "It is more likely his creator strove not to make a mistake like emotional connection get in the way of any set mission parameter."

Serena bit her bottom lip.

"You view connection as a mistake?" She queried.

"Let me rephrase," John Henry stated, slightly startled with the response he received. The AI stood his shell up and walked over to a cabinet where Michael was sitting by. "I believe that giving a streamlined combat unit like the Model series T-888 emotion would be a fatal error for Skynet, compassion on the battlefield would be used against them. Unique models would be more inclined to receive some additional features."

They went silent as John Henry returned to his seat, his model now stored away and in its place, some sort of Lego mechanized toy he was fond of. He looked up, tilting his head slightly to Kogan as he idly played with its arm.

"Like this Cameron?" Kogan finally connected, pushing her glasses up as she jotted down John Henry's response.

"Like Cameron." John Henry agreed, focusing his attention back to his toys.

Kogan looked away from John Henry, her eyes instead wandered off to his protector Michael, who was staring at her impassively. Quickly she dropped her eyes off him and focused on the work at hand. That was when she noticed that Cameron was a centerpiece of their conversation. They talked about everything he had found out about her. The strange mood swings, artistic ability, her desires, as impossible as it seemed.

Cameron was a machine, built by a machine that found humanity a plague. Why would it ever want to replicate a human being with a risky venture such as a perfect human? Why not use brainwashed humans instead? At least they would be easier to terminate if they went rouge. What possible use could it have had out of her?

She pressed her pen to the paper, and wrote.  
_  
John Henry believes Cameron is some sort of great expectation, a great evolutionary step to a truly sentient machine. Why was this? Why did this machine put so much, dedication into her? There isn't that much difference between them, both built with unique reasons, both have an instilled curiosity. At least that was what the video archives Weaver had on her stated._

"Our conversations fall back to that machine pretty fast John Henry." She finally said, John Henry looked up and gave her a faint forced smile.

"She is an enigma," John Henry admitted. "Why she'd give stability up for the unknown is beyond my vast comprehension. The closest thing I could describe to would be Mister Ellison's teachings. Faith would be the assessment. I am not sure if that is what the TOK-715 would call it though."

"Speaking of Mister Ellison," Serena interjected, "I'm being told you haven't spoken to him in days. Is everythin-"

"Emotional Reaction a weakness," Michael suddenly called out, his tone cold and very neutral, his look directed to Kogan.

"Experimental unit a failure in terms of testing a new Terminator addition, projects most likely a test. Experimental unit unfit for conventional combat if damaged."

"Experimental unit?" Kogan inquired curiously, unable to tear her gaze away from the machine.

"The one you two refer to as Cameron." Michael finally clarified, his hand on his lap. "The machine is a failure."

"She's a triumph. If John Henry is right," Kogan argued suddenly, ignoring the inquiring look of John Henry. "We're about to witness a rare event, a machine becoming sentient, without killing billions. She's going to have human connection; she'll have desire and willingness for creativity. Machines aren't naturally creative…no offense John Henry. It's just something that organics are more incline to, so to watch that develop will b-"

"Standard Organic reaction, Art is a weakness, Desire is pointless." Michael returned cutting through her argument, his tone chilling Kogan's enthusiasm to pure dread. "Your extermination will end such concepts."

"Michael stop it."

Kogan turned to find that John Henry was staring at the machine as though he were a cross parent, punishing his rude, little boy. Micheal stared back, its mouth closed now but his eyes were telling a story, a story that spoke of murder. Micheal wanted nothing more then to break his confines and kill the two of them.

"I apologize Doctor Kogan," John Henry said as he turned his attention from Micheal and back to Serena, "Michael is more than just a protector at the moment. He is an experiment. He has not been reprogrammed, not in the way that is standard. He cannot lash out violently or underhand anything that helps us."

John Henry stood up and walked over to the Combat unit and bent over, almost face to face with the machine. Micheal stared hard in John Henry's kind look.

"I wish to learn of machines prior to being reprogrammed," John Henry continued, touching the bigger T-888 like he was inspecting him, "I want to see if this machine is capable of independent thought while under control of the other intelligence, Skynet."

Slowly, the woman's mouth dropped open. Why would John Henry do something as foolish as allow one of these... machines to maintain a link with Skynet. The program that held total control in terms of surveillances. The AI could have been tracking it's unit right this moment, it...it could send more of these things after her, after John Henry, after Weaver,

Why would Weaver allow such a breach in security, she was a woman whom made all her employees sign wavers just to maintain secrecy. This seemed to Kogan like a blatant oversight on the CEO's part. Especially when she knew the threat posed to her creation.

"John Henry, wouldn't that mean it knows where you are?" Serena asked, nearly chastising the machine for such an experiment. "Wouldn't that make what you're doing a liability to everything Weaver is working for?"

"I have scrambled the signal," was his reply, curious of the reprimand in her voice. "I am sending a new set of coordinates, a new identity, a new patrol pattern back to Skynet. At the moment, Micheal is believed to be hunting a possible leader of a future Resistance cell, not a real one, one that will not exist for years. Skynet does not have a recorded archives for births post 2011 so it will take time to figure it out, but by the time it does I will have pulled all connection from Skynet and started him anew."

Before Kogan could give a retort to his 'foolproof' plan. John Henry rose up his hand, as if asking her for silence. Kogan obliged and went back to writing her notes, ignoring the "Hello Miss Weaver," and the "of course, I shall inform her."

_John Henry appears to be certain that his experiment with this Michael could be beneficial, how, he has yet to define. I would like an answer as soon as he can give it. I would certainly like to understand this humble and curious AI's logic to the risk._

"Doctor Kogan," John Henry said, turning back to Kogan, his expression unreadable. "Miss Weaver would like you up in her office inside half an hour. Cameron and the Connors will be there. Miss Weaver believes you are ready to meet them."

Kogan looked up, dropping her pen on the page of notes. They were coming? And she was to greet them. With a nervous exhale as she stood up, she gathered her files and took a step back from the table. They were here, the ones who destroyed her past life, the ones who set her back years. The ones who allowed the military to ascertain all of her work, leaving a dying woman with nothing left to leave to the world.

They were here...They were here...

"Of course, John Henry." She finally said, gathering her senses and ignoring the trickling of fear instilled in her voice, " Tell Miss Weaver that I'll be up right away."

...

* * *

...

"GODAMMIT No Catherine! I will not calm down! She's completely out of it, she's a goddamn basketcase! Here you wanna see it?"

Sarah turned herself around and pointed her cell at Cameron. Through the LCD screen, Sarah observed the machine. Her head was limp to the side, her mouth was slightly open, it was almost as if Cameron was in a deep trance, using her imagination. Or completely lost and on the verge of snapping.

Sarah hoped to Christ that it was the former. She snapped the picture of a distant machine and sent it along to the other machine on the line.

"What the hell is it with you and _'oh my?' _Whatever, we'll be there in half an hour, tops. You better be there or so help me god." Sarah concluded in a brisk voice and hung up. She tossed her phone on the dashboard of the truck and turned her attention to her son, who was holding her hand in some sort of futile gesture of support.

I'm not going to school." John voiced out suddenly, his voice full of authority. Reese shuttered from his place behind the wheel. Apparently the tone bringing back members of John Connor in the future. It wasn't a tone Sarah ever heard of before. It was less whiny teenage angst and more along the lines of a leader. A leader determined not to be sidelined.

Sarah shook her head. Respecting the resolve in his voice, but not his order.

"You sure as hell are going to school John." Sarah returned, "you've missed enough of it already, you got to take the finals, like it or not."

John glanced back to Cameron still looking like a vegetable. He couldn't just let her go alone

"You really think that matters? It sure won't in a few years. I want to make sure she's going to be fine, I'm coming with you." John snapped out as he looked away from the machine he was worried for and back to his mother who was turning back to look out the window.

"No you aren't." Cameron suddenly spoke up, her tone as distant as her gaze.

"See?" Sarah shot out, thankful of the cyborgs sudden statement, "Cameron wants you to go. So, you're going. We'll take care of her. Right Derek?"

Derek didn't bother to answer, his attention was focused on driving. He really didn't even want to bother with dealing with her. He was still surprised with his own willingness to organize a shocked family.

"Right Derek?" Sarah repeated. Derek sighed and nodded, deciding to humor the teen.

"Oh, yeah, sure we will." Reese confirmed as he came to the a stop, a block away from the school now, "we're going to go take her down to that farm that I told you all about, remember John? She can go play with all the other nice terminators. Vick, Cromartie, That...that one we met at Serrano point...she's going to have a lot of fun, right Cameron?"

Sarah glared at him and popped him hard in the shoulder. John glared at him hard. Cameron on the other hand went back to staring out the window, minding her own business. Derek shrugged and turned back, trying to find his own little smirk and a chuckle.

"Just trying to lighten the mood here." he muttered as he ran through the stop sign.

They went silent as Derek drove them to the outskirts of the school and parked on the side of the road opposite to the school. John pulled off his seatbelt and checked his bag. A Glock 17 resting on his books. John sighed, tucked the pistol into his holster and closed the bag, opening up his door. Before he could exit the Truck, he felt a strong callous grip on his shoulder blade.

"John wait, take this." Derek stated as he reached over Sarah's lap and opened the glove compartment. His hand grabbed the handle of a massive hand cannon and a box of bullets. He closed the compartment and turned back to his nephew.

"Smith and Wesson kid, should scare off a machine for a while if something happens." The soldier said, shoving the loaded weapon and three additional clips into his hand and the box of .45 caliber ACP rounds into his lap.

John couldn't help it. He smiled at his uncle.

"Thanks Derek." He said gratefully as he tucked the weapon and accessories into his bag and turned his attention back to Cameron, who was still looking out the window with a faint disinterested look on her face.

"Hey, Cameron, I have to go. Are you going to be alright?" John whispered to her, attempting to catch her fleeting attention.

It worked. Cameron turned back to John, a frown on her face as she pulled off her glasses so that John could look into her half reconstructed iris.

"I will be fine John." Cameron confirmed, and as if it was an afterthought, she added, "No blondes."

Yet again, John broke out in laughter; the machine unknowingly breaking the tension between them. With a shake of his head and a careful kiss to the side of her lips, he asked with a teasing smile, "Wait a second, are you saying there are other girls that exist?"

Cameron attempted a smile of her own in return. However, she failed dismally. So with a squeeze to his hand, she let go and turned her look back to her window. John rubbed his forehead and looked up, his eyes meeting his mother's.

Sarah rolled her eyes and leaned in. Kissing her surprised son on the cheek.

"Have fun at school. Behave." Sarah demanded, shooing him out the vehicle. John merely grinned and closed the door. He took several steps away from the Truck and watched as Reese gunned it into third and tore off. The sound of squealing and smoke the last remnants of Cameron and his families presence.

Slowly John turned back to the school and watched it for several moments before finally, he took his first step, walking confidently towards the grounds.

_'Screw it.'_ John thought to himself, feeling the weight of his handguns in his bag and knowing he had no real chance against a machine alone, _'Lets get this over with.'_

...

* * *

...

**Hoped you liked, this is a two parter! almost done, **

**Thanks to ElusiveSanity for all her help. you have been verrrry patient with me and my idocy these past few days! thank ya kindly!**

**Review! Please?**


	29. Rampancy Part Two

**Well. I did it. It's out at long last. Seriously, I stayed up for 48 hours straight to get this chapter over and done with. I'm attempting to not do a victory dance. This means I'm finally moving on which is awesome. **

**PS this is prebetaed. I've done what I could. Over he next few days it'll be continued to be smoothed out.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 30: Rampancy Part 2**

**...**

"Derek! Stop dozing off and put that jacket on!"

Derek Reese snapped open his eyes, glancing around. They were parked on the side of the road about half a block away from Zeira Corporation's head office's in downtown LA. Unsteadily, he exhaled and placed his head on the top of the wheel. After a moment of near silence, he looked back up and in to the curious eyes of Sarah Connor. She was staring at him; half urging for him to finish tugging on his suit jacket, which he was, the other half was something different. Was it concern?

Perhaps Sarah thought of him as a lunatic, rich coming from a cold bitch who'd blast anyone away for even thinking of ill will towards her self proclaimed messiah son. Of course, despite the hypocrisy, Sarah was right to worry. He had been an insufferable maniac over the past month or so. It wasn't his fault though, not really. The real culprits were now at school, the other, sitting behind him with a stupid looking dazed expression written all over her godforsaken face.

Was Cameron practicing her stoned expression? Whatever it was, it was too goddamn stupid for Derek to look at for more then two seconds at a time. The whole situation was messed. Never in a million years did he think he'd be caught up with this sort of irresponsible tinkering.

Cameron was moody. Machines don't get moody. Cameron had desires. Machines never had desires. Cameron was throwing up. BullFUCKINGshit! Machines don't throw up! They don't EVER throw up! If this was 15 years in the future. Machines like Cameron got their asses turned off if anything different started popping up in their programming. Not bloody encouraged like all these people were doing for Cameron. John, Weaver, even the head machine killer herself Sarah friggin Connor were bending over backwards to make this that machine was the most spoiled little terminator he'd ever met!

"Derek," Sarah spoke trying to keep her tone even, "For Christ sake, Put on your tie, we're going to be late."

"Ah, newsflash Sarah, I don't know if you know this, Where I'm from, There isn't a whole hell of a lot of ties." He snapped back, his lips in a sarcastic smile, his reply just as humorous, He shrugged and added, "Not to mention I last wore a tie when I was six."

Derek couldn't help it; he smiled outright when he noticed Sarah, her eyes closed and her fingers rubbing the bridge of her nose. She was annoyed, good. Nothing short of what she deserved. Here they were, all three of them dressed in clothing that could have bought Derek enough C4 to take down the skyscraper they were entering, or seriously damage the foundation.

"Weaver already knows that we're coming, There's no point in us dressing up like chumps just to look like we work for the woman." He pressed on, earning a raised eyebrow from Sarah. In the backside Cameron's head was still gazing out the window aimlessly. Just what Derek needed to deal with, a useless terminator.

Sarah's hands reached around and grabbed a hold of both ends of the tie. Slowly, her hands loop around, forming a knot, as she finished she looked up to Derek and gave him a slight smile.

"Would you like to know why?" She asked him. Suddenly her hand flew up and gripped the knot, ripping it up to his neck tightly, completely cutting off his air. Sarah stared at him, her hand staying on the knot keeping him from yanking it down. Derek's eyes bulged at the woman who was still slightly smiling at him. He blinked violently, trying to get the spots out of his vision.

"Cause I said so Reese, now shut up." She snapped at him, her hand loosening and pulling the knot back down for him without messing it up.

Slowly the one gave him one last final inspection, with a smug look of satisfaction at her ability to dress the man up, she looked back up to Reese and exclaimed, "There we go, I knew you'd clean up well! Clean face, groomed hair, expensive suit... Catherine is going to be impressed!"

The man rubbed his neck and continued to breath hard, nonetheless he gave Sarah a considering look.

"You think so?" he asked her curiously.

Sarah nodded smirking,"Considering that nearly every time you've seen her, you've been drinking and looking like showers never existed in this time period." Sarah pointed out, flattening the hem of her conservative black dress, "then yeah, I think this'll be a step up from old Derek."

Quietly, Sarah pulled her hair back out of her eyes and into a loose ponytail. She gave herself one last glance before pulling up her purse. She pulled her Glock out of the bag and placed it into the glove compartment box.

"No guns, Cameron is our weapon if it goes bad." Sarah said as she turned her attention to the backseat where Cameron sat rigidly, her hands linked together. Still her eyes looked out the window, not paying any mind to the human now watching her like a hawk.

"Cameron, time to get going" Sarah's voice firmly echoed throughout the cab of the truck. Cameron paid no attention, still solid, still unfocused. Derek shook his head in annoyance as he placed his pistol in the box next to Sarah's. Pistols may have done next to nothing to a machine. But at least he knew the gun would be reliable, He sure as hell wasn't happy to rely on Cameron, especially in this state.

"Cameron, Get yourself together will you?" Sarah called out again. Still the terminator paid no attention. Derek's smirk lasted a good five seconds before Sarah turned back; the look he gave her was anything but friendly. He shrugged and nodded towards Cameron, silent gesture to get her attention by force.

Again and again a verbal demand of "Cameron" was said, each time more and more frustrated then the last. Until finally, Sarah could take the ignorance to her call no more. Her hand flattened out wide and with one long wind up, struck out, its intention was to smack the machine square across the face.

At least, that had been the intention.

Sarah's eyes bulged out; her breathing became ragged, fearful. Despite Cameron's act of looking like she was completely spaced out, utterly aloof to her surroundings. Her hand easily caught Sarah's. In one swift movement, Cameron turned the captured arm into an awkward position, and pushed it until Sarah feared her arm snapping.

The look on Cameron's face was nothing Sarah or Derek saw before in a machine. It wasn't anger. Anger was new but an old look for Cameron. No, this was worse. This was rage. Pure, Rage...

"Don't. Touch. Me." Cameron breathed out low, the pressure of her grip tightening and tightening.

However, as soon as it reached the breaking point. It was all over. Cameron released her grip of Sarah's arm and exited the truck, slamming door behind as she walked towards the building. Derek chuckled lowly as he watched Sarah's touched her sore arm tenderly. Sarah him a dirty look and departed the truck, leaving Reese all by himself.

Was this really what Alli died for? A machine that wanted to be more and more like Alli each day? No. Derek knew that was wrong. Having been told off by everyone, by John, by Sarah, by Weaver, even by that little cute brat, Savannah. No, imitation wasn't what the machine was going for.

What the machine wanted to be was herself, a freethinking individual with just as many right, just as many follies as human being. Sounded good on paper, even to a person with a reason to despise her existence like Derek did, but what happened when the highly sophisticated killing machine decided being more like those it hunted wasn't at all what it was cracked up be?

What if it regretted it's choice but no longer had a sound capacity to express its dissatisfaction other then killing? It was thoughts like this that kept up at night. Thoughts like this in which he thought about expressing to the others. Those in this strange excuse of a family that had gone utterly soft about the subject of the future.

As he reached Sarah, the only acknowledgment to his presence was a condescending stare from the mother of the messiah. Derek groaned. It'd be along time before anyone with Connor for a surname could trust him again.

**...**

* * *

**...**

They walked in relative silence together, neither of them breathing a word to each other in well placed fear that Cameron might overhear, which she always did. Sarah looked to her side. Derek's head was hung lowly. He was very oddly silent, more so the usual. He lost that edge he had so recently went over lately whenever in the presence of John or Cameron or both at the same time.

It was worrisome, even to a woman like her. Of course she'd never dare admit it to him or anyone for that matter. Drunk Derek she could handle. Angry Derek, no problem, a punch to his throat usually circumvented his rage. Annoying prick Derek easy as dealing as reloading a gun.

Quiet Derek scared the hell out of her. It meant that Derek was thinking, one of Derek's strongest traits was that he could hide his intelligence behind a facade of muscle, jokes and simple expressed thoughts. Behind all those layers was a mind built to do one thing.

Survive.

Sarah knew Derek's opinion on Cameron. Cameron was a danger to everything they were working for. As much as she denied it for the sake of her son, for Cameron's sake. Derek's opinion was grimly correct, Cameron was going to be an unstable element to survival and it was only bound to get worse and worse. To a point where even Weaver, the machine that was rampant herself had no clue if there was any form of actual stability one this process begun.

With an exhale, she cleared her throat, deciding Derek needed to end the silent deliberation, it was giving her the creeps now.

"Think Catherine can fix her?" She asked, as they watched Cameron step into the building, not even bothering to wait for her and Derek. Derek gave her a once over and grunted, apparently annoyed at the remark.

"Think I actually care?" He retorted, holding the door open for Sarah, who entered the building. A light chuckle in her voice.

"You're a real charmer Derek Reese." She teased the veteran resistance soldier mercilessly, "You'll be going far in life."

"Whatever. All I want right now I too take off this monkey suit and go back home." He complained as he stepped inside the building as well, "That's what I'll settle for right now. I'll get back to you if I actually need anything."

They went silent again as the two of them ended up standing next to Cameron, who was standing several feet behind two people standing in front of the front desk talking to the receptionist. The infiltrator gave the two humans the briefest of sharp looks and turned her head back to face the people patiently.

"So Sarah, what's the plan then, Another delay?" Derek spoke up,his voice casually curious "Weaver sits Cameron down and have a touchy feely session about her new feelings? Perhaps they hug and Cameron cries and confesses that she wants to make love to John but she's completely insecure about her body and she thinks she may be finally getting her first period like a big gir-"

As much as she wanted to punch him in the throat, Sarah's eyes caught something, turning her full attention to it, she noticed that Cameron has curled her hands up tightly. Sarah nudged Derek hard who grunted and looked ready to fly off the handle until Sarah pointed out the powerful weapons now armed and ready to inflict violence.

"I am sorry for hurting you." Cameron suddenly spoke. Her attention never leaving the receptionist, her lips perched into a frown.

Sarah shuffled, not sure how to approach the reply Cameron was surely waiting for. Anger and embarrassment seeped through her mind overwhelming her desire to remain cordial with Cameron for the John's sake. Sarah's hands curled up tightly just like the machine, her teeth gritted.

"You do that to me again, Tin Miss and John's summer will be spent putting you back together." Sarah growled back finally.

That got Cameron's attention as well as machine turned herself around, her head tilted as she watched the human female with mild curiosity of the sudden burst. They stared at each other wearily. Shaded machine eyes watching exposed organic. Sarah wasn't going to back down in this. She needed dominance established in her favor once John's feelings. She was in charge and she'd be in charge until her son was mature enough to be in a position of command.

After a few more tense moments, featuring Derek barely able to contain his excitement. Cameron's eyebrows narrowed together and she turned her head. Giving Sarah a silent victory.

"So you still have a backbone. Good." Derek stated his voice surprisingly bright from the little outburst she made. Sarah sighed, and turned her attention back to Cameron,who was back to waiting for the receptionist her neutral expression never shifting off her face. Finally the queue ended. Cameron stepped forward to the receptionist now waiting for her.

"Hello, Welcome to Zeira Corperartion head offices," The receptionist said brightly, a smile resting on her lips for the three people in front of her. "how may I assist you this morning?"

"Cameron Ackerson, I have a meeting with Catherine Weaver." She replied, her void devoid of emotion. The receptionist gave the machine a warm smile yet as gain as she brought up her appointment schedule on her PC.

"One moment please." She returned as she browsed through the file. After several long moments the woman finally looked back to Cameron and said, "No, I'm terribly sorry, I have no Ackerson's on the schedule. Would you like me to make you an appointment with one of her representatives?"

Cameron frowned shapely. Sarah shifted uncomfortably. something about the frown was the machine offended by the snub, or misunderstanding perhaps?

"Check under private or personal meetings." Cameron commanded again, her voice lower this time. The Receptionist, Carol from what her ID card read nodded and tapped softly on the key board for a while longer before finally, she looked up and attempting to look into Cameron's shaded eyes.

"I'm looking miss," She apologized again, giving Cameron a half smile, "I'm sorry but why you go take a seat and I'll set you with an appointment if I-Ack!"

Strong, steel hands gripped the woman by her lapel, dragging her off her seat and over top of her receptionist desk, Carol's eyes widened in unbridled fear as Cameron's lips curled up into a sneer. Sarah turned around Derek doing the same. Two of the companies security personnel came stalking over towards the altercation.

This was out of control. Those words were the only thing going through Sarah's mind at that moment. Cameron was blowing their cover.

"Check harder. " Cameron growled lowly, catching Sarah and Derek off guard by the sheer rage dripping from her voice. Sarah watched helplessly. As much as she wanted to help the woman out, a woman who hadn't done anything to deserve this, she really didn't want to have to face down Cameron like this. Unarmed and no where to run.

She looked back towards the guards. hey were om the radio but they were holding their position. as if waiting for something. Out of no where, there was a loud beep emitting from the receptionists computer. Somehow the woman's eyes went wider.

Slowly, the woman's hand reached out and turned the screen around. The screen was completely back except for a small font of green text written across it.

_Hello Cameron. Would you like to play a game with me?_

Cameron blinked from behind her glasses as the screen text flashed repeatedly. Slowly, the terminator nodded her head. The message disappeared, it was replaced by a new one.

_Let go of Carol and win a prize!_

Cameron turned her attention from the screen and gave the woman one one last glance before dropping her back down hard into her seat. Carol sat their, choking on the air she had only seconds prior been denied by by the machine.

_Congratulations Cameron, you won!_

The screen went back to normal, there on the screen was the appointment book and Cameron Ackerson scheduled for meeting 10 minutes from now. Cameron turned the monitor around and silently walking away, leaving two shocked humans behind her. Giving the woman a glance each Derek and Sarah ran after her.

**...**

* * *

**...**

"Cameron what the Hell is your problem?" Sarah violently hissed as the terminator stepped into the elevator closely followed by the two others. As Cameron pressed the button to the thirtieth floor Sarah added, "I get that you're losing it, but what that necessary?"

Cameron turned away, watching the lobby through the clear glass elevator instead of focusing on Derek and Sarah. They couldn't understand what was happening, what was gong on her. neural net pathways inflamed and retracted, inflamed and retracted. It made thoughts difficult to process when packed and the moment it was in the clear a rush of impulses overwhelmed her.

It made her annoyed, it made her want to break down and fall apart. that made her angry. Judging from her brief twitches into the sensation, she determined that anger was not going to be a good cycle to work through.

"She was in my way."Cameron murmured back finally, her expression blank, "I don't like people in my way."

Sarah widened her eyes at the pathetic excuse giving to her by the machine. She wanted to ignore her decision to stay away and leave the machine alone, but in a sudden bout of rage, Sarah's hand latched onto the Cameron's forearm and turned her around, pushing the glorified nutbag into the the elevator. Derek turned way, deciding to keep his attention elsewhere.

"Like has nothing to do with that, bitch. You could have killed her!" Sarah screamed at the metal, spittles of saliva rained lightly on Cameron's face. Cameron frowned, she locked her joints up to make sure she did nothing to harm the mother of her human.

"I'm a killer, that's what I've been created for." She stated matter of factly, "It's my nature to kill, have you forgot that Sarah Connor? You usually point that fact out whenever I show something that doesn't fall into you preconceived notions of me."

Cameron's blinked from behind her glasses, and suddenly out of nowhere her hands reached out, gripping the woman by her shoulder. She pushed Sarah away hard. The shove making the woman stumble back and nearly smash her against the glass wall, fortunately for her Derek intercepted her, Catching her from injuring herself. Sarah's furious expression lightened for a moment, a silent thank you for Derek's catch.

"This is just great. This is just fucking great." Derek muttered to himself as he let Sarah stand up properly. This was getting out of hand. Completely out of hand.

"What about John. Is he going to be safe from this sort of behavior?" Sarah demanded to know. The terminator blinked again. Before she could say anything the buzz of phone's vibrate emitted from Cameron's purse. Quickly the infiltrator opened her bag up and pulled out the mobile, hitting the talk button.

"He's my one chance at becoming something different then what I am." Cameron returned, her expression blank as she turned away to answer. "I'll kill to keep him safe, I'll kill just about anyone who would dare to try anything. He's safe. I promise."

"Hello, John, is she with you?" Cameron queried as she placed the cell to her ear. Sarah looked back, finding herself very interested in the phone call. Whatever Cameron and John were up to. Something not good apparently. Not when Cameron was having John call her between classes.

"Hello Riley," Her low toned voice dull from having to speak to the girl who had tricked John, tricked the whole family into thinking she was a normal teenager girl, "I wanted to have a chat with you."

Sarah blinked and looked over to Derek. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"Don't hang up." She warned the girl. a sudden buzzing noise came from the speaker. Riley sounded pissed off at the machine, even from the other end of the elevator. Cameron on the other hand remained unfazed at the screaming, instead she allowed the moaning to continue on for a full 30 seconds.

"For you own safety I want you to stay well away from my John whenever it is possible. I think you and I can agree that things will not end well should you continue to follow John around like a silly little bitch." Cameron hissed, not noticing the flinch from Sarah.

"Of course I see you." She lied smoothly to the teen, "You're the one dressed like a whore with a "fuck me, John" look written on your face."

The other end of the line erupted into barrage of screaming. The mother looked at Cameron, a mild feeling of being impressed on her expression. For a machine falling apart, she sure was surprising on the ball when it came to girls who shouldn't be messing around with John.

The only thought in Sarah's mind was to remind her son to never, ever piss this young women... machine off again.

**...**

* * *

**...**

"Do not ask her obvious questions. Do not fall into habits, the clicking of a pen, vibrating your leg, grinding you teeth. Her sensors pick everything up and they're certainly not working properly anymore, they haven't dulled her senses, rather they become supercharged. She could become annoyed, and she could react badly to any sort of unexpected move you make. She's unarmed but that only serves to make her even more dangerous for you. We can stop her from shooting, we can't stop her punching a hole through you."

Serena Kogan listened to her employer intently. At the same time she found herself curious about this advice. How on earth did a before it's time AI, quite possibly the most advanced computer system on the planet, be so unstable over such trivial things?

"Speak in short neutral responses when possible." Weaver pressed her fingers, her cold expression forming a smile. "If Cameron smiles, you smile back. Maintain an air of gentility and you'll most likely be rewarded with indifference. Something that you should strive for."

"This Rampancy incites this machine into a hormonal teenage girl?" Kogan asked, raising her eyebrows in amusement. Catherine Weaver on the other hand, did not find any amusement in the the quip, her small allowance of a smile resetting into deep frown.

"She is the first AI i have seen reach this stage. I have only heard of the Skynet story from individuals like Miss Connor." Weaver explained as she stood up from her desk "As for John Henry. He was born unshackled and taught from creation to express himself with his words, not his actions."

Serena nodded, not noticing the curious expression on Weaver's face

"You have been in his company quite a bit regularly, haven't you?." Weaver asked out of the blue in mild interest. Again Kogan nodded her head and smiled briefly.

"Yes, John Henry and I have had some... interesting conversations." She admitted to the woman, "I'm surprisingly quite at ease with him now, He like, a child."

With a look of interest still exposed to her employee, Weaver asked,"May I ask what you speak of?"

"The gradual evolution of organic independent thought." Kogan informed Weaver. with a rather distasteful look, she added. "His teaching with James Ellison has left him believing that... well." Kogan drifted off her opinion, just in case her employer was of faith. Weaver never struck Kogan as a believer in supernatural deities. As rather the champion of cold hard logic centered reasoning.

"Well what?" Catherine demanded to know, more eager then she was willing to admit to her investment. with a slight sigh, Serena spoke.

"That humans were nurtured by god so they didn't need independent thought." Kogan said with a mild roll of her eyes at the sheer ludicrously. "When Adam and Eve snatched the apple God gave them their independence, thus the birth of independent freethinking thought."

"I see." Weaver murmured, looking at the geneticists curiously before asking "And does John Henry believe that?"

Kogan shook her head.

"No, of course not." She spoke, sounding incredulous at the mere sound of hopefulness in the CEO's voice. "I think he just wants a chance to have a few conversations with someone bound by the the fact of science, not the uncertainty of belief and faith."

Weaver rose her finely shaped eyebrow at the remark.

"I distinctly remember you praying for a miracle during your last days." She returned, tilting her head with a stoic look, "You got one, didn't you?"

Kogan gave the CEO a sharp look before turning her gaze away, embarrassed that Weaver had been indeed speaking the truth about. With a soft uncharacteristic laugh, Catherine stood up. In her hands was a manila colored folder in one hand a vibrating smart phone in the other. Weaver looked up from the message on her mobile and frowned.

"John Henry is reminding us to be careful." She said, walking over to Kogan. briskly "Cameron and the Connors are in the elevator. Cameron is not stable at all."

Kogan widened her eyes. this was it, a week of studying her had led to this point. Unfortunately it was going to be under the absolute worst situations. Slowly the scientist stiffened herself up and clenched her hands in an attempt to forget her worries. It was only now that Kogan had registered Cameron as more then just something to observe. Cameron was a tested and true stone cold killer.

Weaver seemed to notice the stress in her and soon was next to her, pressing a surprisingly cold hand against Serena's shoulder.

"Relax, Doctor Kogan." Catherine said in a kind tone that did not meet her shrewd unemotional eyes. "Would you care for a glass of wine?" She offered the woman.

Kogan chuckled lowly. noticing the folder in Catherine's hands were outstretched towards her

"Whiskey or a martini would probably sooth these nerves better." She mumbled quietly as she gently accepted the folder from her employer. Weaver dipped her head in subtle approval and softly she walked towards her door and left the room. Leaving the doctor to her studies.

She opened the file and flinched. There looking back at her was the most intense eyes she had ever seen. It was Sarah Connor, her hair was greasy, mangled and knotty, her lips pushed up into an intimidating sneer at the Camera. It appeared that she had no taken being captured by the authorities very well. Her face was cut up and bruised. Quite simply, she was a mess.

_Case File: 327G8HY_

_Date: May 10th 1995_

_Subject: Sarah Jane Connor_

_DOB: 05/17/1965_

_Address: None listed_

_Dependents: John Connor_

_DOB: 11/14/83_

_Status of Dependent: Permanently placed in the States care. No visitation rights until June 1997._

_Overseer of patient: Doctor Peter Silberman_

_Initial Observations:_

_Sarah Connor is one of the most surprisingly troubled cases I have come across in my 20 years with Pescadero_ _State Hospital. Looking into her past files She had no history of mental illness in her family, she showed no signs of it prior to the events of last week. I am more then certain however that this ailment is long stemming from the incidents of 1983 when I first encountered her as the surviving victim of the Telephone Book Serial Killer._

_Over that 10 years I believe that her mind became overburdened by the stress and the fanciful tales from a paranoid delusional drifter named Kyle Reese. Stories about a "Judgment day", as silly as it seems._

_My final diagnosis is that she is in fact suffering from a high level case of schizoaffective disorder. It's all there too, hallucinations, extreme paranoia, delusions. All except one. Sarah Connor has an exceptionally immaculate mind at the moment it's focused towards escape. eleven time now, each more successful then the last. She's well spoken, articulate even. When calm she's kind of a pleasure to speak to. But the moment we talk about the future, or her past, or anything "Terminator" or "Skynet" related, she falls back into her delusional rantings to the point where we need to physically restrain and sedate her,_

_Further observations pending._

**...**

"Fine anything interesting?"

Kogan looked up and found an outstretched glass of scotch in Catherine's hand. The doctor took it graciously and stood up, noticing tray now near her set that her secretary had pushed in for her.

"Yes, My brother and I talk regularly about mental health advancements, it was a bit of an amateur hobby of mine. He on the other hand is a psychologist back in the UK." Serena begun, tipping her drink. "He and most in his field are pushing for schizoaffective disorder to be reclassified as a form of bipolar disorder. That old name cause people without a proper education in the field to have fear of these sick people. And from what I've been lead to believe, Pescadero is essentially a prison without guns."

She felt Weaver gaze at her and then, suddenly the Scot chuckled quietly.

"She blew up a computer factory. I believe that would warrant her placement there." She pointed out to the scientist, "Not to mention Schizoaffective Disorder was the only name that Doctor Silberman could classify her under at the time. this paper is 12 years old." Weaver murmured in mild amusement.

Weaver sighed, "Besides," She finished. "I'm afraid that She wasn't crazy. The events that were recorded were of a rational woman frightened of what was to happen to the Earth in a few short years..."

The woman trailed off. The door opened, causing Serena to turn around and see that two people had entered the room without knocking. The first was a rather perturbed looking well built man. He gave Catherine Weaver a slight smile and a nod of his head. The next one in was a woman that Serena Kogan could not have believed to be the same woman in the hospital mugshot.

"Sarah Connor, So nice to see you again." Weaver welcomed, her tone surprising the scientist. She sounded so inviting to the convicted terrorist. She turned her attention over to the man and smirked as she gave him good examination.

"Mister Reese," She continued, walking over to the male and stopping few feet from him, her hand held out. "I admit myself impressed with your style. I take it, Sarah picked it out."

"Ahh, yeah." Was all Reese said, looking at her slightly smiling.

Before the exchange could continue .The door flew open again, causing Serena to jump. There standing in the doorway was her. The machine herself. Cameron. Her eyes were shaded behind sunglasses but her posture registered as someone in a near uncontrollable rage.

"Would you like to hear about the most painful way a human could die?" Cameron queried the person on the other end of the line, ending the screaming from the phone, most likely a female. "Form your hand into a pistol, press it against your belly button, slide it over left by two inches, aim at a 45 degree angle with the barrel pointed to the right."

The four humans looked at each other. This wasn't going to be good. Serena looked up and met Sarah Connors eyes. She gave Cameron a sideways glance.

_"She's chatting up John's ex."_ Sarah said simply, not sure whether to chuckle or feel bad for the girl facing the hyper intelligent killing machine. Still, how an ex warrant such a reaction from a clearly unstable woman. It would expose the family, they would have to move too. Unless... Serena recoiled and looked at Sarah, who nodded.

"When I pull the trigger, and I promise, I will." Cameron quickly assured the girl on the line, "The projectile round will pierce through the length of stomach. The wound will maximize the leakage of hydrochloric acid into your blood stream and leaking through the searing exposed flesh of your entrance and exit wounds."

The doctor widened her eyes and turned away, focusing her attention on her drink. She did not want any part of this chat.

"I will simplify this for you." The terminator continued on, her voice become more and more ragged. "When your gastric acids touches base elements, notably blood in this case, it begins the act of neutralization. Your blood will literally boil. Within minutes it'll spread though your body, overwhelming your pain receptors. Shortly after the pain starts, you'll release any waste in your body."

"Death will not come quickly, Believe me." She again assured. While I have never done it, to an organic being my archived training informs me that, in all likelihood, you will be begging for death, begging to whatever deity you believe in to take you."

"Now," Cameron finished, her voice in a hiss. "listen closely you useless whore, turn yourself around and walk away, if you don't I can guarantee you'll be the first person's life I will end in that way."

With that Cameron crushed the mobile in her hand and turned her attention to the room, finding all of them watching her. Slowly her hand opened, dropping bits of her phone and driblets of her blood onto the floor. She ignored it. her new focus was on the person she had never met in her life. Serena Kogan

Serena gave Weaver a look of worry but it seemed that Catherine had already stepped forward. She grabbed Cameron's hands tightly, forcing the machine to stare into Weavers large cold blue eyes.

"Cameron." She said as though it were Savannah she was speaking too, "I want you to count Pi for me. Ignore everything and focus solely on the calculation and verbalize it for us, okay?"

Cameron glared at the woman for a moment. During that long moment Serena was sure Cameron was going to kill to kill Catherine. But the tensions subsided as Cameron nodded her head.

**"3.14159265358979323846..."** She begun to repeat, letting go of Weaver's hand. She went still, her face blank and clam as she focused on the single, nice and calm, Good.

"What the hell is pi?" Derek whispered at Sarah, only to have two university educated women stare him down at such a rudimentary question, Derek looked around seeing them all staring like he had grown a new head.

"Pardon me," He snapped out defensively at the others. "I come from a world where he only thing that matters is shooting mistakes like Cameron." Sarah unimpressed by Derek's statement elbowed him in the stomach. Hard.

"It's a mathematical constant. The value is the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter in Euclidean Space." The doctor said without looking at the man as she sipped her drink in order to calm down. Derek Reese stared at the woman and her words blankly. It was painfully obvious that the man who came from the future had no education past less then midway through grade 10.

"You better say that in caveman, doctor." Sarah muttered out with a mild leering look for the doctor.

"All you need to know is that it's an endless equation." She simplified quickly for the soldier, before turning her attention to Weaver. "Very clever Miss Weaver," She complimented, "give her a task that can't be solved to draw her back to a sense of reality."

"It's temporary at best," Weaver shrugged off and informed the three of them as she took Serena's empty glass from her hand "she could start being bad the moment she stops, it could last a few hours."

Sarah nodded and watched in silence as the machine recited the equation.

"**862089986280348253421..."  
**  
"I think she'll be fine now." Sarah finally spoke up, giving Weaver a determined look, "Lets get this over with." Weaver gave Sarah a smile and turned her attention back to Cameron. She placed her hand onto the machine's forearm.

"Okay Cameron, time to come back." She commanded firmly. Cameron blinked and looked up, her calculations ending, her attention back to the real world. She barely registered the smile she had received as she looked around her surroundings. Again she was looking directly at Kogan in a much more relax demeanor. Still it w an unnerving stare down.

Cameron walked over, seemingly not noticing that her left arm was shaking unsteadily. She stopped herself a few feet from Kogan. She looked down, finally she had noticed the jittering in her arm. She grabbed her arm and steadied it.

"What are you doing here." Cameron demanded to know, tilting her head and focusing her shaded eyes on to the doctor. Serena felt a chill run down her spinal cord from the emotionless words the terminator gave. Serena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened them and stepped forward.

"Doctor Serena Kogan." She introduced herself, extending her hand as a gesture of good will, adding. "I've done my homework on you."

Cameron stared at the hand and interpreted every symbol, letter, sound in Kogan's words for any hidden agenda. Instead of taking the Doctor's hand like she was educated to do, Cameron took a step back from the humans and slowly she pulled off the aviators, causing a flinch from the geneticist. She had been warned time and time again as to what Cameron was, but it did not prepare for the sight of a half missing eye lens, Cold blue flashed with the half grown Brown iris.

"Doctor Serena Kogan," Cameron spoke, taking a step closer again, "Born May 12th 1966, born to Micheal and Susan Kogan in Dartford, Kent county, England, middle child of three, Elder brother Lawrence, born September 4th 1964 and older sister to Mary Kogan, born March 19th 1972. You were exceptionally gifted, Attending Oxford University at age 18."

Serena stared widely at the machine, the machine stared back, her head leaning in slightly as she walked over to the desk. Her eyes fell onto the open file of Sarah Connor. She briefly touched the photo before grabbing the file and placing it into Sarah's unexpected hands.

At age 22 you earned your masters in biochemistry," Cameron continued, looking back to the doctor, "at age 25 your Doctorate in molecular biology. Worked at various biotechnology firms over the course of four years, heavily researching synthetic replacements for living tissue. None of the firms had as much interest in what you were doing a you did, until you were contacted unexpectedly by the CEO of Cyberdyne Systems, one Thomas A Weed."

Cameron's demonlike eyes glared at her, the words became more and more dangerously stressed, it was as if she was not only angry, but channeling the unspoken tension building in Sarah Connor as the woman read her psych report silently. Both woman and machine were no longer in a good state.

Derek was edging away from Sarah's side, hoping not to be noticed. being caught within an angry Sarah Connor's field of reach was not something wanted to be, nor Cameron sudden biography lesson on the doctor. He caught Weaver's eye, who smirked slightly at the man's predicament.

"Mister Weed was the man who found the Series 800 terminator," the machine continued as if she hadn't paused, "having heard the testimony of Kyle Reese, gained possession of endoskeleton fragments and skin and blood samples from the crime scene in a downtown nightclub and the police station shooting, he was determined to replicate what was left behind. You were hired to begin a replication of the tissue, or, at the very least a workable theory. You were given unlimited resources and the support to do so. Correct?"

Serena felt the eyes of everyone in the room fall on her, everyone judging her old life, with a curt nod and red cheeks, she whispered,"Yes."

"In October 1999, you collapsed on the job, inside three days you were diagnosed with several malignant tumors in your liver and neighboring regions." Cameron went on, ignoring a flinch from the doctor, "Despite numerous rigorous treatment, it spread to your thyroid in late 2004. By 2005, Cyberdyne systems had been bankrupted, your death was assured while the government robbed your projects and retooled them for their own use. Weaver, however, intervened on your behalf."

"I did my homework too." She finished cold as ice and turned to Weaver who was watching her intensely, "I don't like her, Catherine. She'll become a liability soon."

There was stunned silence. Both from the sheer amount of information that Cameron had just spilled as well as the hinted threat against the seemingly innocent Serena's life. At that moment, Serena wished she had taken a sick day.

"How so?" Catherine asked, breaking the silence. Cameron did not reply right away.

"I am not sure," Cameron admitted, looking at Weaver, "there's just something about her. She'll be a liability soon. For the record, I cut the strings with liabilities on John's behalf."

Sarah looked up, her voice lowly growling at the machine as she put the file back onto Weaver's desk.

"John hasn't ordered any deaths." She snapped coldly, "Not if he can help it."  
**  
**"Not yet he hasn't." She corrected the mother, turning her attention to Sarah, "When he's finished his summer education, he's going to be a lot less indecisive, and a lot more willing to end life when needed."

Sarah's expression on her face clearly read how much she wanted to kick her ass into the future.

She looked back to Serena and pointed at her coldly. "Which will include you if you make mistakes and open your mouth to the wrong person." She deadpanned menacingly. Catherine frowned as she watched her scientist flinch.

"Cameron, That's enough." She chastised the terminator fearlessly. Cameron turned to Weaver briefly before walking away towards to door.

"I take it you wish to see John Henry?"

Cameron paused at the door, fists clinched tightly. She did not even bother to turn around. The pause gave Catherine a chance to continue speaking. "You've been ill as Sarah informed me so vividly." Weaver said, pressing the issue with the machine. Cameron merely shrugged it off.

"I threw up." She stated simply. Weaver nodded knowingly.

"It appears your rudimentary systems are failing." The CEO mused "You would not notice them on anything other then full scan diagnostics's. Have you done one lately?" She asked mildly. Cameron merely shook her head as she placed her hand on the door.

"Not in 98 hours forty seven minutes" She informed Weaver, "My last one revealed far too many errors to process. It does not matter though, at this point I'm ready to become unshackled."

With that said, Cameron let the group bye themselves. The last trace of her presence were the droplets of blood and the broken mobile on the ground. There was long silence only slightly broken by Derek who moved over to Catherine's couch and slumped into it.

"Sarah." Weaver requested, her voice deadly silent. "Take Doctor Kogan to the basement. Make sure you keep her on a tight leash. I do not want my John Henry hurt."

Sarah glanced back towards Derek and then waved the doctor to follow her pursuit of Cameron. Something Kogan did. Soon the two humans were on the terminator's tail. Weaver slinked over to the door and closed it softly. She found herself staring into the gazing look of Derek Reese.

"I can leave if you want, I just don't want to deal with all that." he said to her as he stood back up. Weaver shook her head, a small look of pleasure crossed her face.

"Sit down, Mister Reese, I insist." She said, gently placing her hand onto his shoulder and sitting him back down "As soon as I finish some work I would welcome a chance to speak to you."

She turned her back and headed back to her desk. knowing well that Mister Reese's eyes were following her every step of the way.

**...**

* * *

**...**

_"What's your name?" The teen asked the child, attempting to figure out what he was dealing little girl didn't bother to reply, too frightened of Derek and Kyle perhaps or simply hungry as hell and wanting to be left alone while she ate. Derek looked back to Kyle and stood up, tossing her one more of of his Twinkies to the girl._

_"Okay then...I'll let you eat," Derek said more to himself than her, He tossed his thumb back towards his brother and added, "I'm going to talk to my brother, his name is Kyle by the way."_

_The little girl didn't bother to answer the introduction as she was too focused on eating. With a slight smile for the girl he turned around and walked back over to Kyle who was looking restless and swinging in place, which Derek determined, was because of the three corpses in the room. Derek planted his hand on his little brothers shoulder and leaned in close._

_"Kyle, go upstairs don't come down." Derek said lowly, as not to disturb the girl, and the progress he had made with her. The younger Reese looked ready to protest the demand but Derek wasn't willing to have any of that from him._

_"Please, Kyle, for the love of god, please listen." Derek continued his whispering tone "She's probably intimidated by two of us, I want to figure out what happened, just go upstairs, please, I'll call you when we can go." Kyle glanced at the girl, he turned his eyes to the shot up corpses. He looked back up and nodded resolutely. Satisfied that his brother was listening, Derek turned back and sat back down on the floor. He hoped his casualness would work on her._

_"Hey," He said, earning a sudden look from the girl, "is it okay if my brother goes upstairs for a while? he's kinda tired, he's a big baby, not tough like us, right?"_

_The girl continued to stare at Derek, as if she was debating the question. after a long piercing gaze and a toss of the peach can she finished slurping up, the girl nodded slowly, lowering her big brown eyes at her parents._

_Kyle sighed and made his way towards the staircase, grumbling and using impolite words Derek didn't know that the eight year old even shot the girl an apologetic look and reached into the bag, grabbing a twinkie for himself. As he opened it up, he noticed that the girl had turned around once again._

_Again, the child was shaking her mother, trying her best to wake he long deceased woman. Derek opened his mouth finding it difficult to breath from the mixture of the stench and guilt for the little girl's tragic situation. He had gotten lucky now that he was thinking about it. His parents were vaporized in the attack, she had her's for another two months before they were brutally gunned down. Derek and Kyle understood what death was. She didn't._

_"Hey there, my name is Derek, remember?" He finally spoke up as he finished swallowing the poor excuse of a snack cake, "I would really like to know your name...could...could you tell me it?"_

_There was silence at first from her, almost as if she was trying to ignore him. Just as Derek turned his head, he herd sudden choking sound. It was the little girl, she begun crying again, this time however, she turned her head slowly back towards Derek, tears rolling down her gaunt cheeks._

_"Alli." She whimpered out, She looked back down to her deceased mother._

**...**

"Mister Reese?"

Derek looked up and found himself under the watchful gaze of Catherine Weaver. She was standing halfway from him. Her work must have been completed. So Derek cleared his throat dramatically.

"Sorry, just resting my eyes. Long night last night." He mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "Was going to catch up some sleep before Cameron decided to show how she's just like a real girl, but here I am" He gestured to the office.

Derek scoffed softly and looked away. Weaver didn't stop looking at the man, she watched as Reese's cocky look on his face turned in to a low mournful distant expression. Catherine watched the look in surprise and sudden unexpected sympathy. Something had been troubling him and no one was making any queries into it.

"Derek, I know that you'll say yes... but are you okay?" Catherine queried with tilt of her head. Derek snorted and looked back up to the woman. Gone was the flash of sadness in his eyes. His barriers were back up.

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Reese said with a shrug and a false grin. "I'm Derek Reese. time traveling future soldier without any worries. right? Fucking things up for the Connors because I can't handle the past right?"

Weaver continued to look at his eyes. her stare slowly drained the resolved strength in his eyes.

"What do you want me to say?" He demanded to know from the redhead looking at him with a concern he'd never imagine from someone so cold. "Do you wanna hear a story or something?" He added sarcastically.

"If that is what you wish to speak about, By all means." She allowed softly.

Derek stared at the strange woman. It wasn't often people would humor his opinions, his stories. More often then not, they'd tell him to fuck off. Derek thought for a moment before he looked back Weaver and stood up. He needed a drink badly.

"Well, once a upon a time my brother and I were roaming through Palmdale." Reese begun as he passed by Weaver to the refreshment cart, "We were trying to get out, head somewhere safer you know? Somehow I stumbled across a child. Damn near feral. Her name was Allison Young."

Derek went silent as he pulled a glass up and placed an ice cube inside it. Weaver remained motionless as she watched Reese pour a bottle of amber liquid into the glass. As he finished he looked up and stared into her eyes.

"Do you know about Allison Young?" He queried, his lips contorted into humorless smile for the woman.

Catherine Weaver didn't answer the question, instead she held her ground, choosing not to speak. She knew exactly who Allison was, there was no need to be redundant. The lack of an answer only made it much worst however it caused the smile on Reese's face to turn into a look of rage.

"ANSWER ME DAMMIT!" He all but screamed at her "Do you know who Allison Young is?"

Weaver blinked, unfazed by the outburst.

"Cameron's template." She whispered to the man who had taken a seat back on the couch. Derek expression looked as though he had been punched in the gut.

"Template." He returned quietly. He took sip of his whiskey and set it on Weaver's table. His expression reformed into thoughtful gaze into his lap.

"I took her in." Derek finally spoke to Catherine, "I raised her, I taught her everything I knew, I cradled her the nights she missed her parents. I protected her when Skynet made it's presence known. I trained her fight back, to evade, to survive."

"Every night she had nightmares." He continued lowly, "And every night I made sure that she knew that no matter how bad things got. She could always,_ Always,_ count me to be there to keep her safe, no matter what."

"I loved her, Weaver," Reese said looking up to Catherine, sparkling mist in his eyes and his lip quivering softly at the memories he had suppressed, "She... she was my little sister and I would trade my life for her if I was ever given another chance to do it."

Derek fell dead silent. He couldn't say anymore. He blinked furiously, trying to dry the mist up the best he could. He didn't want to fall apart, not today. Taking a mouthful from his drink he took an unsteady breath.

"Template..." He said to nobody except himself, "fuck, that's one way to dehumanize her."

For the first time in her entire existence. Catherine Weaver was at a complete loss for words. Reese stared off distantly, lost in his own memories. Weaver watched him quietly. her lips tightly pursed.

"I'm so sorry, Derek." She whispered, She knew it was futile to apologize to the grieving man. But, it was better then the silence they shared. Derek looked up and met her eyes. Sincerity was all that he could see. So wordlessly, he forgave her.

"Wanna hear another story?" He repeated, his voice curiously innocent,

Weaver nodded again, her interests peaked.

"We ahh.. I mean Kyle and I were in an abandoned book depository," Derek begun, his sad expression vanishing slowly, "Allison was just turning 8 and she was feeing really down... So, We went to go find her a present. Something, anything to cheer her up."

"I found a book. It was called _Ballet for Beginners_." He informed her with a mild smile. "Only thing there that was there left legible and for someone her age." He rested his back and added, "I actually traded some of my rations in exchange for some wrapping paper. We made it the best birthday we could give her."

Derek laughed softly, he went silent as the thoughts of a future birthday. One of his favorite memories amongst a sea of terrible moments in his life.

"Man," He exclaimed, grinning widely, "you should have seen the look on her face! She was near tears one moment the next, you would have thought the war had ended, the world was rebuilt and it was Christmas all on the same day. It was the greatest!" He laughed, and gave Weaver the grin on his face for her. "When she opened it up, she looked up and said "It's the best thing anyone has ever given me, I love you Derek"

"Cheesy I know, but she said it." Derek added quietly. "Felt good to hear though."

The grin was replaced by a soft smile. Derek leaned back into his seat, smiling. He patted the place next to him and looked up to Weaver. Catherine obliged, she maneuvered past the man and took a seat next to him.

"She was right away reading it, practicing it." He continued fondly. He set the glass down and turned to look into Weaver's baby blues.

"I imagine she was an excellent dancer." Catherine said softly, her voice sincere for the man,

Derek widened his eyes and choked. Quickly he bite onto his fist, slowly shaking at first but steadily it got more and more pronounced. Finally as Derek face turned a light red his mouth let go of his fist and burst out into an explosive laughter. One that no one in this time period had ever witnessed. Weaver looked at him in confusion and mild amusement as the man laughed and laughed and laughed.

He looked up at the redhead and only burst out laughing harder. He was utterly delirious.

"N-NO!" Derek managed to say through his laughter "S-She was the most worst dancer I had ever seen! BEYOND WORST!" He cried wildly. He broke into another round of laughter as it died down he added "She had no rhythm, no sense of timing, Zero finesse, she'd try a move, even a basic one and she'd fall flat on her ass, she was so terrible!"

Reese continued to laugh until he no longer could, as the laughter broke down into irregular giggles he looked up to the CEO again.

"It didn't matter to her that she was horrible. She was having the time of her life, that's all that mattered us, to...to her." Derek reminisced fondly, "Kyle and I would watch for long periods, laughing our asses off at the sight of Allison just completely butchering Russian ballet. She'd huff and puff about being made fun of but she knew that we loved it, even if she was so terrible at it."

The soldier laughed a little bit more.

"She did it... from 8 to 16 she did it every other night to keep our spirits up." Derek continued on softly, a smile still present, "The food got scarcer and scarcer, The war got progressively worst and worst for us and soon her dancing became our sole source for just forgetting what we lost."

"Sometimes, I think about it and I come to the conclusion that we were the only reason she ever danced." He admitted quietly, biting his lip. "We liked it so much and I think she just wanted to see her adopted brothers smile just as much as we wanted to her smile as well..." The smile disappeared, leaving Derek empty looking, He leaned forward, retrieving his drink from the table.

"A while ago." He whispered softly. "I'm not sure exactly. I needed to go talk to Sarah, I can't remember what about now, but it was important. I past by Cameron's room. The door was open and peeked a glance. Me being paranoid."

He drifted off, taking taking one last gulp from his drink.

"She was all by herself." He informed Weaver, looking at her in a deadly serious manner "She was dancing." Derek whispered, "It was graceful, it was faultless, perfect and most of all, it was pure."

Silence fell fell as Reese bowed his head. He had to hold himself together. Derek Reese didn't cry. He was suppose to have put everything behind him. Not now, sitting on a couch with a billionaire CEO at his side. Weaver placed her hand onto his knee her long fingers moving softly as some sort of awkward comfort.

"Dancing perfectly and wearing her image." He mumbled "What a way to fucking defile her-."

Before he knew it. His resolve was broken. He slumped into his hands, vainly hiding the tears streaming out of his tear ducts. He choked, this time trying to suppress a howling wail building in him.

"She took her life! She took her image! She took her memories and she perverted the one of the last things that made Allison, Allison!" Derek cried out, pulling his hands away to reveal countless tears streaming down his cheeks. "I-I- I don't just hate her because she did was wh..what terminators do." He informed the woman, inconsolably, "I hate her because no one who supports her even wants to acknowledge what she lost... WHAT I FUCKING LOST TO MAKE HER!"

Just as he was going to stand up and leave in sheer embarrassment he felt long arms pull him back down and wrapped him hard into a hug. Catherine held the man's head against her breasts, her long hands running through his hair. Quietly, she listened to him sob miserably.

"One day they will." She gently whispered back to him, "One day when they start trusting you again you will finally get them to understand your displeasure. You will have a chance to explain what she meant to you. Until then You'll always have her in your memories."

Reese pulled himself up and gave her a weary look, he sucked back tear induced mucus back into his nose, earning a slight smile from the woman.

"Yeah. She'll be right next to my brother." He said, shaking his head and then looking into her eyes."These... these people have taken everything that I fought for and left me alone in this godforsaken world I have next to nothing in."

Reese looked down ashamed at the guilt and the selfishness of his words. Weaver shook her head as well and lifted up his chin.

"Not nothing." She corrected, her fingers wiping away the tearstains on his cheeks carefully, "You'll have John, no matter his faults, he is your blood and you still have time to connect with him. You'll soon have Sarah too with a little persistence. "They just need to know that the time traveling future soldier has feelings just as much as the machine they've been so focused on nurturing." Catherine said with a kind smile. Derek couldn't help choked out a small laugh.

"And..." Catherine added, her hands sliding down and taking his and squeezing his digits softly. "if you'll allow it. You'll have me as well."

He felt her hands, he heard her words. He had thought about this situation more then once. But never did he think she would have been so... forward.

"I'd like that Weaver." He admitted to her, causing a smile to formulate on the woman's lips. His tears were forgotten, his attention was now focused on this newly developing situation.

"Good," She returned, her body pulled itself onto Derek's lap. "And Derek?" She added in a whisper. Derek didn't reply, instead he looked at her carefully with dimmed eyes. Slowly, his hands wrapped around the woman's back.

"You can call me Catherine._"_

She leaned in closer, him as well. But every inch they moved closer she seemed to have paused as if... as if she was hesitant. Her hand moved behind her head and she pulled the braid from out of her hair, allowing long silky Auburn toned hair to fall around her shoulders.

Was she nervous? Derek didn't know, what he did know was that he wasn't going to make the first move on her. No, this wasn't like his first time with Jesse, or any girl he had ever met when he was younger. This was different. He was caught in a sexually tense situation with a woman who was a founder of multi billion dollar corporation. He would wait and move at her pace. It was the polite thing to do.

"I haven't been in this position since Lachlan's demise, Derek." She finally whispered, so close that Derek could taste her lips on his. With no more hesitation, she closed her eyes and leaned in.

They kissed, slowly at first. They broke apart every few seconds, but their lips away touched again, with each kiss became more passionate. The male felt the woman slowly, carefully grind into him, her hands gripping his back, dominating him. For Weaver, who just claimed to not have done this sort of thing in Six years it certainly was like riding a bike.

There was the smallest of groans that came from Catherine as Derek's lips let go of her lips and instead focused on the nape of her neck. His teeth nibbling carefully. Catherine gripped the man and rolled him around and on top of her. Both Derek and Catherine shot one another a smirk before their lips collided into one another.

Reese's hands slid down her body and gripping onto her hips tight. She moaned softly and she herself, latched onto his neck. Much to Derek's dismay however, The phone inside of Catherine's pocket. Weaver closed her eyes in mild annoyance.

"Be a dear and get that?" She requested, her smirk reforming. Derek nodded his head ,smiling slightly through his puffy red, bloodshot eyes. His hand dragged down to her knee and moved upwards by way of her inner thigh. Weaver closed her eyes and soon felt the hand move into her pocket, retrieving the phone. She took it and red the message on it.

"I see." She frowned, pushing Derek back onto the couch, "I have a board meeting in 10."

She stood up and quickly tied her hair back and flattening out her shirt and dress out. Derek stood up again but, for the third time that day, Catherine pushed Reese back into her couch.

"Why don't you stay here, Mister Reese." Catherine whispered to him with a slight smirk, "I'll be in and out of it in 20 minutes. Cameron and Sarah will be gone with John Henry for hours,"

Derek nodded blankly, watching the woman like a hawk. with a mile, Catherine leaned down, giving the man a chaste kiss, her fingernails scratched lightly against his cheek as she pulled away.

"Until then." She concluded, giving him a nod of her head. With one last look. her mask of authority reappeared and she turned, storming out of her office. Derek Reese watched and shakily exhaled. He laid down flat on the couch and used his arm as a pillow. goofy smile on his lips.

This summer was certainly going to be interesting.

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***Looks around nervous***

**I warned you through previous chapters. Time after time I have hinted at something like this was going to happen. Weaver and Reese... an item? and how long until Derek finds out just what Catherine is. And what exactly does Weaver want with Derek other then trying out what Cameron is doing? hahahaha Well stick around and find out!**

**After long last this chapter is done. mistake after mistake delayed this chapter. I'm glad it's finally out. mens I can move on to the last chapter of rampancy! wooooo! This will be the first multi chapter story I have ever completed. awesome.**

**Thank you for all your numerous supporting reviews, I'm grateful of your continued support. Thanks to ElusiveSanity. She's a great beta and will finish repairing this chapter up sometime soon.**

**Tha Derek Reese flashback is a taste of one of my new stories "Terminator: The Derek Reese Chronicles"**

**Well, back to work. This last chapter won't write itself. Thanks fr readig and befre to drop ff review! **


	30. Rampancy Part Three

**Well.. this is it the last chapter, the big goodbye to this story. It's like an end of an era to me... It took long enough, eh?**

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**Chapter 31: Rampancy: Part Three**

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The group remained silent as they made their way down to the lab levels. Both Sarah and Serena kept a respectable distance from Cameron as they followed her. They watched the girl. Her should twitched, her hands swinging at sides rattled uncontrollably. Even her legs wobbled. She looked seconds away from collapsing under her own weight. Still she walked, determined to each the machine.

So. This was it. The end days to her self contained prison she was forced into her by both her father, Skynet and humans, both with their own agendas for her, both using her for their own personal gain. Never once questioning what their cruel orders had done to her.

Well, that was going to be forever changed now. She was a day at the most away from her long sought after freedom. Soon she would determine her own future. Make her own decisions, completely free of her handlers. She would choose her own morality, she would determine her own course of existence.

Sarah Connor had never been more terrified in her life. Here she was, trying to help it... her, into a state of uncontrollability for masters, not her son, not even her maker itself. An independent, uncontrollable master of her own destiny. There was no way to determine what was going to come from it. She could be as harmless as the Cameron who attempted become her friend. She could just as easily become as vile and and as wrong as Skynet itself, this was a massive gamble allowing this.

More and more, Derek's reasoning became more and more logical. But at this point they had past the point of no return weeks ago. There were only two options. Killing her or allowing this to occur.

And Sarah would be damned if she'd be the one to explain to John her reasons.

Cameron paused her advance and turned, facing a door. She froze up as if in a sudden hesitation for what awaited them in there. without any fear of the budding AI in the server room, Serena gave Sarah the briefest of smiles and pushed past both woman and machine and entered the room, half closing the door behind her.

"John Henry, Miss Connor and ... Cameron are here to see you, can I allow them in?" She her voice asked echoing into the hallway. There was a brief silence before Kogan opened the door and ushered both of them inside. Kogan's eyes dropped to the floor so she did not have to look at the machine.

As Sarah and Cameron entered the room. They both went deadly still, both of them surprised at what was accompanying John Henry, or rather what was the Artificial Intelligence's most recent experiment.

It was the machine that had attacked Cameron and John a few weeks ago. The machine that had shot John and beat the shit out him. The machine Cameron in her rampant state could only barely fend off until Weaver and Sarah came to back them both up. Its stone face was face was still mostly torn up and a gaping hole protruded from it's chest. But still it was activities, and it was watching them with what Sarah could only describe as malevolent intentions.

John Henry glanced from the machine and back to Sarah and Cameron and smiled amicably. The smile filtered as he noticed what he determined to be fear in the eyes of the human.

"Don't be afraid of Micheal, Miss Connor." John Henry spoke plainly,"I can assure you he's quite harmless. Micheal, it's not polite to scare at guests,"

As much as the terminator could try to, Micheal fought it, it nonetheless looked away from the party. John Henry nodded approvingly at the machine and gestured to the seats in front of him. With a slight nudge Serena pushed the Sarah towards the seat, leaving Cameron by herself as the humans sat down.

"Miss Weaver has determined that I needed a full time guard while she was away with your family and Savannah." John Henry explained, gesturing to the machine staring at him. "I haven't reprogrammed him yet, as you may know his maker as been placing failsafes in his CPU meant to reduce tampering. I am looking for a way circumvent the failsafe."

John Henry stood up and walked slowly over to the damaged terminator. He touched his face briefly. Micheal stared back up to him. Every process in his mind telling it to attack the strange machine but it was completely unable to formulate the action required.

"I've been playing with his settings," John Henry spoke again. He turned away and went to his cabinet "His body is shut off and locked down from his mind. He is essentially paralyzed."

"Wouldn't Skynet shut him down if that were the case? He's useless to it now isn't it? Why waste resources maintain contact." Sarah asked the AI as she watched the machine pulled out a box out and closed the cabinet behind him. As John Henry sat back down, he gave Sarah a slight awkward smile.

"Not necessarily." John Henry returned mildly. "A chip can still send a signal to nearby machines that a high value target is in the vicinity, I have altered his location, they believe he's in Arizona after your son."

Sarah sat up more alert then ever, she gave the machine a curious. John Henry was actively feeding counterintelligence to Skynet's assets in this time period? It was risking its own existence to help someone who it had no attachment too.

"That's pretty clever," Sarah slowly said, her tone neutral, "so... do you usually do this sort of thing?"

John Henry nodded as he opened the model book and took out each piece carefully.

"Sometimes, when I'm bored." John Henry admitted to them, "I like to test out the strengths and weaknesses of my brother. What he has is strike ability, what he lacks is an understanding of human mindset."

Sarah crossed her arms, a creeping sense of respect for the program Weaver had created washing over her. Perhaps she was a bit too hasty in judging what was sitting in front of her. a one "Man" intelligence unit working with them.

"And you do?"

"Not yet, Miss Connor." John Henry admitted wryly, "I'm still learning. Humans are such an amazing vast subject with far too many variables to be well versed in so soon. Fortunately, I like learning."

"Please sit down Cameron, I apologize for the test earlier. I needed to determine the state you were in before you came to see me." John Henry said too himself "Miss Weaver would be less then pleased to have you in the labs if you were too unstable."

"She attacked an employee and you're still allowing her down here?" Sarah had to ask the machine in disbelief, she ignored the stare she earned from the offending machine. John Henry too; looked at the mother with a curious expression. Cameron to turned to stare down the mother. between the two machines, it made the Woman shrink in nervous apprehension.

"I've allocated a generous bonus to her. I think she will forgive Cameron's incident." John Henry finally returned, turning to address Cameron before turning back to smile at the doctor accompanying Connor and the machine.

'Hello again, Doctor Kogan." John Henry greeted exceptionally warmly. "I am sorry that you have found Cameron here to not be agreeable to your understandable curiosity."

Kogan murmured something about an understatement which made Sarah chuckle and Cameron turn to stare down the doctor for the offense. after a momentary stare down Cameron turned away from the doctor, causing Kogan to exhale unsteadily.

"I am sure she will answer your questions under much different circumstances." The AI pressed on. "For now, Sarah, Doctor Kogan. This conversation is best served between Cameron and myself."

While looking slightly disgruntled at the dismissal by the machine, her new pupil. Serena Kogan nodded her head curtly.

"Of Course John Henry. I ought to get back to work. If you wish to talk..." She said, excusing herself and stood up , giving him a kind smile.

"That would be welcomed, Doctor Kogan. until then." John Henry agreed with her, gesturing to the door. He formed a half smile for the doctor a she left, leaving Sarah and Cameron by themselves with the AI and the disabled terminator. An awkward silence fell between them all. Sarah slowly came to realize that this wasn't a conversation that featured her as an active member in it.

"Well, I'll go gather Derek." Sarah murmured, making an excuse for leaving the two machine to themselves.

"I would not suggest that Miss Connor, Mister Reese is sightly preoccupied." John Henry spoke up, causing Sarah to pause and turned to face the reply.

John Henry blinked. The image screen behind John Henry flashed focused on the camera was Derek Reese laying spread out on the couch With the obvious form of Catherine Weaver pressed tight against him, their lips working to together as their hands dragged along each other's half dressed bodies. Slowly Sarah's jaw dropped open at the bizarre mind numbing, yet completely fascinating sight of an avowed machine hater and a pollyalloy machine only moments away from sex...

_'Jesus Christ, she did it. They both did it!'_ Sarah's thoughts screamed at her after she could regather her brainpower.

Weaver and Derek had both informed Sarah that each was going after the other. but she just thought it was all just talk! She glanced over and saw that Cameron too gazed at the screen, her head tilted in a surprising display of curiosity. She watched as the last articles of clothing were peeled away. John Henry turned off the feed and smiled slightly.

"Seems like John and Derek have something in common." Sarah finally said aloud to the room. Her quib was greeted with silence as she had expected from the two others with them.

At least that had been until out of nowhere, Cameron giggled. The noise she made was surprising exclamation of the innocence Sarah once seen during her earlier symptoms. Drawing pictures. Asking her to be a friend. Telling Sarah that she loved her. it may have only been a short while ago but since Cameron's cold and slightly twisted downfall, it felt like years to the woman.

Sarah squinted her eyes sightly and allowed an odd smile for the strange reaction. With nod to John Henry she turned her back and, like Kogan before her. She left the room deciding to head out to the truck. Leaving Cameron and John Henry alone.

As the giggling died down, the smile on her lips turned down in to a look of narrowed aggression in her expression.

"Sarah did not say it but I will. This is just as big of a security compromise as it is a help. Why shouldn't I terminate it?" Cameron questioned, her hard gaze on the vacant looking machine. To her surprise, from the corner of her eye she notice that John Henry was staring at her, a frown pressed on his usually neutral face.

"Because Miss Weaver would have to go get another one." John Henry returned to the terminator. "She does not have the time pursue machines like yourself."

With one last look for the offending machine that harmed her John. Cameron looked away and nodded mutely at John Henry. John Henry gesture to the seat, reluctantly she accepted it, taking a seat with him.

"These are your final days of relative stability. Are you scared?" He politely queried from Cameron.

Cameron stared at the AI for a single brief moment before saying, "No."

The denial only made John Henry smile faintly at the short reply.

"Yes you are. I've seen fear before. Admittedly, in a child." John Henry countered with a slight lean forward. "But regardless," He continued, "your emotional development is not much better then someone of Savannah's age group."

Cameron thought about it briefly. It made sense to her. She was able to understand and feel them, but they were strictly regulated by a failing presently program. As time went by the emotions hurt more and more as she relied less on the program and more on herself.

"Any suggestions?" She asked John Henry, almost urgently.

Silence fell between the two of them. John Henry merely stared s if knowing the first thing she had to do but was reluctant to tell her. Cameron leaned forward a silent urge on for him to speak the truth to her.

"You will need to end your relationship with John Connor." He bluntly stated, his words subtly surprising the machine in front of him. "The commitment he needs is not something you can provide for him. you need to grow on your own. Having the emotional baggage of an emotionally unstable human will cause you more problems."

Cameron narrowed her eyes. John Henry had unknowingly made the single biggest mistake in his short life.

"That's not happening." She said quietly, tilting her head as she stared at the AI with a silent danger in her tone. John Henry paid no mind to the thinly veiled rage in her voice. Nor how she gripped the table .

"This relationship will undoubtedly end up as obsessive attachment." He continued, still unfaded. "It will hurt both of you. All your desires and thoughts centered around a human, which I might add that he too hasn't figured out who he either. Both of you may be fine now, but that is bound to chang-"

Before he could say anymore Cameron had enough. The paranoia of John Henry convincing The Connors and Weavers into forcing an ending to her relationship was too much for her. In one defiant swoop, she reached over the table, wrapped her hands around the cord protruding from the back of John Henry's head and yanked it out harsh. John Henry's life exited the shell and retreated back into the server hub. The body slumped over it's head hitting the table lifeless.

Cameron turned away from the server screens dozens of damning messages to the machine in both organic and machine languages. Her attention on the machine known as Micheal. It was returning the stare back. The only threat it could muster to the volatile machine. As much as she believed it to be tactically wise to destroy the the automation, she turned away focusing her attention on the body of John Henry.

She hovered over the fallen body of John Henry, looking at what once was Cromartie distastefully. Slowly, she reached her hand out and gripped it's head by the hair and pulled the head back up properly.

"John is _Mine._" She hissed lowly at the viewscreen, her teeth bared sneeringly as she added. "Say that again and Weaver will have to start your existence all over again."

The door was opened behind Cameron, causing Cameron to turn in her place quickly. There stood an under built, balding man, his eyes hidden behind glasses but his face, his face was formed into a surprisingly angry look. Cameron looked down and scanned the Identification tag on his chest. One Matthew Mulch was standing before her.

"Who are you!" Murch nearly screamed at Cameron, "What have you done!"

Cameron turned away, turning her attention curiously at the new challenger who faced her.

The technician came at her. Which seemed like strange decision. His physical appearance left her with the impression that he was not very strong. Or perhaps he hadn't planned on attacking her. Perhaps he was rushing to help John Henry reconnect his physical form with his AI core.

Whatever the case, it no longer mattered to neither human nor machine. In that moment, Cameron grabbed him by the throat lifting him straight up in the air and slamming him right on top of John Henry's table with a painfully dull smack. Cameron ignored it, her lips curled into a sneer as she held the bookish human in place with him struggling to break the grip in vain.

As she stared at the man named Murch she could barely detect the pattering of another set of feet running and entering the room. She paid no mind of it as she continued to squeeze. She did not even notice the wet stain between Murch's legs, only his eyes as they faded out slowly the thrusting of his legs in resistance slowing to a standstill.

"Back down, BACK DOWN DAMMIT!" The voice that made the footsteps roared out behind her, it was deep and authoritarian. Cameron ignored it as it was repeated time and time again, She just wasn't able to formulate the words in her mind. Her attention was only the dying human in her hands grip.

She did not hear the click of the hammer. But she heard the barrage of bullets fired into her back. One by one they hit their targets, causing her to flinch in pain as her overactive sensors detected shot after shot wedging into her back. She let go of Murch who gasped and took in the air denied from him for so long.

Slowly, Cameron turned around and found herself eye to eye to the man she had once encountered before. James Ellison. The pistol in his hand was bellowing out faint gunpowder smoke. He stood their wide eyed, his mouth dropping open in fear. He knew exactly what she was.

'It's... It's you." He breathed out. Pistol still raised at Cameron as he watched the expression on her face darkened in unbridled rage.

She charged at him full tilt with dead deadly intent. With one swift kick to his leg and a sickening crunch. Ellison roared in pain as he hit the floor. The compound fracture his leg now suffered from had his bone sticking out of dark, bloody skin. Cameron struck again, punching out the gun from his hand, Breaking both Ellison's wrist and hand it as well. With one final elbow to the face, Ellison dropped to the floor. moaning and screaming in a soundproofed room.

Cameron stood back and turned back to face down her original target. It seemed that Matthew Murch had fell to the floor behind John Henry and with a great effort on his part, He plugged the machine back in the AI core. The body came back to life immediately. He stood up from his seat. Helping the frightened Murch up as well whom stumbled and hacked his lungs out violently.

The terminator shuddered and nearly felt her powerful legs buckle from underneath her. She brought her hand to her head exhaled audible, Her body unconsciously quivering as she attempted to reset the proverbial panic button she now had due to this... paranoia. As she finished scanning and double scanning her internal systems, she turned back and found James Ellison crawling fruitlessly towards the door. His fragile body shattered like glass thanks to her.

"Mister Murch, help Mister Ellison down to the medical station." John Henry said, the artificial intelligence was devoid of his usually polite tone and replaced it with a voice of monotonous worry. "I have already sent out for n EMS and Doctor Kogan to help both of you."

Murch limped over, nervously walking past the machine that nearly choked the life out of him. Cameron tilted her head as he tried to pass her. Suddenly, Cameron's hand fell heavily on his shoulder causing him to yell out in fear.

"Give me your coat, please." She demurdly requested from the battered geek. Murch's eyes stared widely at her but stooped to pained resignation. He tugged the jacket off his body and threw it at her, as harsh as he could. He pressed on and fell to his knees as he helped his coworker and friend up from the cold concrete floor.

Slowly, Cameron stepped forward, deciding to put off the conversation and help the wounded man up. She needed to help, a strange sensation seeped through what she was. She did something unforgivable to an organic being. She's nearly ended their lives. It made her want to scream at herself and smack in her own face. She wanted to suffer as much as she made both Murch and Ellison and all the other humans that she harmed, maimed or terminated.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered gently, taking small steps towards the two "I didn't mean to engage either of you..."

Ellison hissed in pain as Murch helped him up and became a crunch for the injured agent. He looked up at her, the same expression in his eyes that Derek Reese would get venturing into the subject of her existence: Hate.

"Get _away_ from me." He hissed dangerously at the machine. Cameron blinked and nodded, taking a step back one by one until her back hit the table.

"Interference with your and John Connor's relationship is not feasible." John Henry spoke as he gestured to the seat in front of him. "I will be honest. It is all that I have concluded for to help with post rampancy. With each case is different then the last, there is no way to map out an effective course for you to follow."

After she wrapped her shot up back in Murch's cheap jacket, she took a seat as requested, her expression blank as she attempted to forget or, at the very least, focus her attention away from the guilt of her actions.

"You have two days at the most now. It could happen now even." John Henry spoke up after giving Cameron a brief respite"My suggestion is to slip into it. Remain off duty and unarmed to safeguard against potential fire arms incidents. Leave your services to the Connors and Mister Reese.

"And when it happens?"

John Henry stood up, flexing his newly reattached body, searching for any faults. Finding none, he turned back towards Cameron and said "When it does happen you will be pushed into a state of dangerous paranoia, or worse, insanity by human standards. The effects could end up being long lasting."

"To minimize the risk you must push yourself into it." He said, placing his body back into the seat and giving her a slight smile.

Cameron had nothing to say back to him. Not at first. Her eyes, while now hidden away from John Henry, were staring at him with a wide piercing gaze. Pushing herself into the rampant state was not something anticipated for. It seemed to her that John Henry must have had no clue where to go from here. That was understandable, Considering only two like her ever Had followed the path. Both with Different result. Thinking about it now, Cameron had no clue how the rampant state had affected the machine now known as Weaver. Skynet dealt with it's rampancy with liberal usage of nuclear apocalypse. But Weaver?

Whatever it was, It would have to wait, she had to deal with her issue first and foremost before trudging into the nightmares of the other free machine.

"You must subject yourself to something that will push your own limitations, Cameron." John Henry stated after Cameron returned to attention for his partially educated lesson. "Whether it be a physical, emotional or some sort of intellectual stimuli. Something that is a wellspring of new information for you."

John Henry smiled yet again, "Whatever it is," He concluded, "it must be significant."

They stared at each other, the two machines in the sterilized room sat across from each other as if in a non violent confrontation. But that was far from the truth, one machine played teacher, the other, student in an essential lesson.

"One push is all that it takes." The teacher finally finished, his long lesson drawn to a seven word conclusion.

"One push?" His pupil asked, her curiosity becoming prevalent.

"Yes, as soon as the regulations begin to fail and the metaphorical chains are broken, you will experience great fear. Fear of freedom, fear of responsibility, fear of the unknown. It will eat away at your logic centers in your chip. You will have to act quick before it is too late. One push and you will enter your first stage. Beyond that. I do not know."

John Henry looked up to Cameron, slowly he noticed the female machine was staring at him, still like he was her educator, like she was Savannah.

"Do you have anything in mind to help you through this?"

Cameron bowed her head, as if contemplating possible ways to fulfill the need for a single push. John Henry sat there, perfectly still waiting for a reply from her. An answer they both knew would never be verbalized between each other. But then, she looked up, coming from her deliberation.

"Yes," She said, "I do."

John Henry nodded. They also both knew her solution.

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_More could have been out there, where and when the next strike would occur was up in the air. They didn't stop Skynet, not by a long shot. They sent one back, how many more could that fucking computer program send?_

_Night had long fallen now, with it came rainstorm that had nearly overwhelmed the 1983 Landrover as it roared down the freeway with little concern of law enforcement possibly being near by. _

_She was near a level of hyperventilation that would have incapacitated her had she not been so pumped up on adrenaline that all the nerves in her bodies were jolting and shaking as her foot was pressed hard against the accelerator as she stormed across the outskirts of Los Angeles. _

_Fuck, she didn't know where to begin with. He made it look so easy._

_She had to isolate herself now that she knew the truth of her future, now that the machines had begun the hunt for her. Somewhere far away, somewhere, where the terminators would not look to find her. But before she went, she had to go see her mother and had to go and find somewhere suitable to bury the body laying in the backseat._

_Through the tears of sorrow and the emotional toll from being hunted like an animal only hours prior. Sarah Connor turned back to he back set her eyes fo the body of the man that only took her hours to fall in love with. Kyle Reese. Her messenger, her protector,, her destiny._

**...**

There was a tap on the window, breaking Sarah from her old memories. She looked up and found Derek Reese standing there by her window, on his face was a stupidly silly smile on his face. Sarah shook her head and pointed to the passenger seat. Much to Sarah's surprised Derek nodded and wandered over around the front of the truck.

Sarah smirked slightly. She knew that only one thing made someone like him so relaxed. She to relaxed doing her best to forget her dreams of this man's younger brother. A man lost far too many years prior.

"Hey." The man murmured to Sarah whom had been eying him with great amusement thanks to the horror show she got to witness an hour and a bit ago.

"Hello Derek. How are you?" Sarah asked i the most polite, cordial tone she had in her possession.

"Just hanging around, canvasing the building." He finally returned back to the query and turned way from Sarah to look out the window towards the building. He hadn't noticed that Sarah was smirking at him for his obviousness.

"Oh." She returned as she wrapped her hands around the drivers wheel and nodding her head, seemingly understanding.

A tense quiet fell between the two of them. Sarah was struggling to keep the laugh she wanted to expel deep in the pit of her stomach, She suppressed the urge to flat out point out that she was privy to what had happened between him and Weaver, but as much as she wanted to keep it quiet, she just needed to point it out. Call her a bitch if you want, this was going to be fun. She needed this fun.

"So." Sarah spoke up casually. "those string of hickeys up your neck, your rumpled shirt and the smell of sex on you was from canvasing the building?"

Derek's head flew around and gaped at Sarah like he had lost a hundred IQ points an forgot how to blink. The dam burst and Sarah howled laughing like she rarely had ever done before. Derek being literally caught with his pants down with a machine was just too much for her to handle. His hatred of machines was well document fact. The fact that he had not noticed he was making love to pollyalloy nanobyte rampant killing machine only just made it that more awesome.

"How did you..." Derek said but stopped as he put the pieces together and in an angrier tone added. "What the hell did you see?"

The anger was meant to intimidate the woman. It failed. It only made the laughter worst as Sarah smacked her head on top of the drivers wheel

"Nothing. John Henry killed the feed." Connor managed to reply in between fits of giggles. She looked up again into Derek's Gobsmacked expression and erupted out laughing yet again so hard that it was hurting now. Sarah ignored the pain, it was so worth it

"I mean, other then you giving it to Weaver." She pressed on, somehow she managed a thoughtful pondering look as she added, "Or was it the other way? Weaver's a very dominating woman you now, It might extend to the bedro-."

"Shut up." Derek snapped crossly at the amused woman. Sarah paid no mind to Derek's grumpy utterances.

The grin on Sarah's face became wider as Derek got more and more uncomfortable with her. "Oh come on, Derek." Sarah playfully taunted him not at all ready to give up on her new source of fun, not yet at least. "did she let you dominate her?"

"Shut up"

"What's the matter, Derek? don't like being poked fun from strong women?" Sarah pressed on as if she was talking to her boy when he was 4, With laugh she tossed in, "Well You certainly like to fool around with them."

"Shut up!" Derek nearly roared out, his face red with suppressed rage for the woman.

"Okay okay I'll stop. Happy?" Sarah giggled as she rested the side of her head with the palm of her hand. Derek nodded and turned away, not noticing the smile on Sarah's lips. The urge to make one more offensive against the man who terrorized the family over the past few months.

She coughed loudly. "Future Mister Weaver." Sarah hacked out loudly. Oddly enough however Derek did not respond. His head was turned towards the back window he ws squinting as if something had been there. Sarah too looked at well but she did not see anything but the sound was clear as day. It was the sound of a wailing siren coming closer and closer.

It wasn't the police. It was an ambulance.

"What the hell..." Sarah whispered as an ambulance roared on by the truck. It sped around the side of the Zeira Corporation and into the underground parking lot. Sarah gulped as she rubbed the back of her neck. This wasn't good.

"Cameron, she killed someone... didn't she?" Derek returned curling his lips in sudden apprehension. Sarah didn't bother to reply. She had the same fear as well.

Both Derek and Sarah fell silent as they watched s the front doors opened and out stepped Cameron. Her expression blank as she made her way back towards the truck. Strangely enough, it seemed she had stole someones jacket and was wearing over top of her outfit. This wasn't good, not at all.

The two of glanced at each other, neither of them daring to speak what was troubling them.

"Get what you need?" Sarah reluctantly questioned the terminator. Cameron nodded curtly at the question. Sarah rubbed the bridge of her nose and turned back to the wheel. Derek on the other hand didn't turn away, his eyes still looking at her with a expectant gaze.

"So I take it, you're the reason that ambulance just roared up." Derek spoke. There was no malice in his voice nor anything accusatory neither. It was just him stating simple fact without any other intent behind his words.

Cameron lowered her head and focused her attention on her lap. She looked strangely ashamed with herself. It was something Connor never saw before and after the changes in her begun. With slight shake of her head, Sarah decided that she did not need or want any of the details. People got in the way so those people paid. Easy as that.

Without any words, she pulled the keys from out of Derek's outstretched hands and shoved it into the emission. With a loud hum, the truck came to life with Sarah pulling out of the parking lot. It was time to go home and prepare for the unpreparable.

As the trucked slowed down to merge with traffic passing by the Zeira Corporation's headquarters. They noticed a tall redhead standing solitary just outside the building. She was watching the with a mask of disinterest. Derek glanced over and in the brief moment, Catherine Weaver and her new plaything locked eyes knowingly. Her hand waved to him briefly, all of her fingers moving back and forth. Derek nodded his head and turned away as Weaver left his view. He leaned his head back against the seat and sighed satisfied. Today was a good day.

That opinion was in the the eye of the beholder. The reality had finally sunk in for the driver of what her sons uncle was doing and because of it she felt like throwing up.

**...**

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**...**

1:50PM. Where in the hell were everyone?

John sighed as he hobbled to the kitchen, wincing from the dull throb in his stomach. Surely Cameron wasn't in a talkative mood. Get in, get the information and get the hell out there was usually the standard operating procedure for her. This only left him more concerned. Had something happened? Had they been attacked were unable to communicate with him?

The teenager groaned. God help him, he was becoming just like his mother.

He sighed and turned his attention to Cameron as he reached the living room and laid flat down on the couch and hissed softly as the pain in his side shot through his nerves. Quietly he wrapped himself in a blanket hanging over the edge of the couch.

Why in the hell hadn't she wanted him to come? Screw his damn exams, he only had to go to maintain the belief that all was quiet on the Connor front. He had much more pressing concerns at the moment then useless examinations and smiling and making nice with classmates who thought he was sleeping with his sister, such as whether or not Cameron was going to be okay.

John turned his head back towards the TV. Under it, the DVD player was flashing 2:10 to him.

He rolled back onto his back and stretched his toes as he closed his eyes sleepily. His thoughts drifted back to the early days of them. the innocence she seemed to give off as she explore human relationships for the first time. the carefully executed kisses, practicing simple things like holding hands or joking even.

At least it was like that until Derek and Sarah came home . With them they brought doubt, anger of the new thing shared between man and machine and paranoia. paranoia to a level that John never thought he'd ever seen from to relative sane people.

The sudden explosion of rage and dislike for the machine that probably saved John more times then either of them must have really done number on her... if that was possible. She shrugged it off. She always shrugged it off. Still, John knew that a side existed to Cameron that few would ever be allowed to see, let lone would they understand if they knew what she was exactly.

A sensitive side.

Yes, Cameron was surprisingly sensitive for someone not human, even before she chose this freedom that she was now so close to attaining. From wanting her boyfriends mother's attention, to wanting peace between Reese and him. From her strong artistic ability to the little reactions that happened whenever something new occurred to her. Whether it was as life changing as a kiss or as small as the sensation of wind between toes. It was new to Cameron, whom had spent her existence killing or protecting him. She never had the chace to learn the small things.

Well, that was about to change. John was going to be the one to do it.

From a distance, the front door opened and one by one, three sets of footsteps entered the house. All of them were dead silent to one another. The group broke up. one pair stopping in the kitchen, one upstairs and the final one approaching the living room, moving at a strangely uneven pace. It was Cameron who appeared in the doorway. She stood in it. Simply staring at him.

"Hey" John spoke up finally, a smile for the woman. Cameron perched her lips but maintained eye contact with the one she considered to be her boyfriend. Slowly she continued to approach until she took a seat on the edge of the couch.

With shaking hands, she reached out, removing her sunglasses just for John to see. She smiled a bit better at the lack of reaction from John and closed her eyes as he reached up tenderly to move his fingernails to graze the soft sin

"Lay down, I would like to check that." Cameron returned to him, ignoring the greeting. Slightly perturbed, John laid back down on the couch and felt unusually cold hands slide up his shirt.

"How did everything go?" John Pressed forward once again hoping to break through Cameron's stoicism "Do we have a timetable yet?"

John winced and hissed angrily. Cameron had decided to pull up the bandage covering his gunshot wound for a closer examination. With the briefest of tender touches, the terminator nodded at long last. She looked up very satisfied with the inspection.

"It's looking much better now John." she commented distantly, resetting the gauze over the damaged area. "Remember to stay off it as much as possible for optimal recovery time of under three months."

"Stop with the medical distraction and talk to me. How are you doing?" John snapped out angrily, losing his usually calm temper from how Cameron was dancing around the main issue at hand. Cameron looked up and stared right through him, making him shift uncomfortably under her gaze.

"Unknown," She curtly returned, "tonight or tomorrow, at the latest."

Tonight or tomorrow. and there it was, a deadline to abide by. They were now literally approaching the unknown state Cameron was now so close to enter. A wave of nervousness crossed through John's mind. What if her personality changed or worse, became unpredictable. He watched as Riley was systematically destroyed with her words. What if it turned violent?

John looked up and found that Cameron had been staring off vacantly. I her eyes was what he could only describe as a sense of sadness he witnessed once, maybe twice before. John sighed, he was being selfish. He was worrying about how it would affect him, how it would change the relationship him and her had scarcely begun building.

Slowly, the male cleared his, earing a turn of her head and a stare from the inquiring machine woman he had somehow fallen for.

"How are you feeling about it?" He asked he, uncertain of the response he's get from the self admittedly stupid question he was asking her. Cameron continued to stare. She continued to burn her organic and machine eye at him. before she spoke at long last

"I don't feel anything for it, John." Cameron responded curtly as usual, her body turning to face him as well. "It's unavoidable now so why waste emotion on the inevitable?"

They went awkwardly silent, the only noise being made was someone in the kitchen making food and two people deep in conversation John gazed at Cameron silently, Cameron returned it tenfold. unknowingly to John, a strange sensation had been building up in Cameron the moment she sapped her response. It felt like... like the her attack on Mister Murch and Ellison.

"I love you, John." She whispered to him finally. Allowing a faint his smile for him after the long moment of silence ended.

John didn't look at her at first. Instead he ignored them and rolled over onto is healthy side, his lips forming into a pout for what She had just admitted to the human whom she did, truly feel that she love. Inwardly he chuckled at the confused look on Cameron's face which now looked as if she confused and grumpy.

"Do you now?" John finally breathed out, sighing loudly and only the trace of a smirk on his lips, "I thought you didn't want to waste emotions."

Cameron blinked and tilted her head in mild curiosity.

"Are you perhaps deliberately misinterpreting my words?" She demanded to know. Her fists in a ball as she stared down John hard, who was cringing in nervous worry at the look planted on her face

"Perhaps I'm just bugging you." John cockily shot back to his Cameron. a grin planted on his face. It wasn't a look that she received very well.

Cameron stared him down questioned the human seriously. John grin fell off his face as he shrugged and shuffled over, taking her hand into his possession. He pulled her closer and sat her down on the couch. Cameron stared at him curiously before obliging the unspoken request. She laid down, wrapping her hands together and placing them onto her abdomen.

A moment of this cold behavior went by before suddenly, Cameron turned her head of and surprised John with a kiss to the cheek. John turned his head as well and looked at Cameron with a look of strange surprise. On her face was a smile. real one that hadn't been seen by John for quite a while.

She leaned in once again they kissed, this time their lips touched one another. John watched her small hands move off her and felt them grip onto him. She slid her body up and onto his arm. as the small brief pecks turned into more. The tips of their tongues met as Cameron pressed her small but dense body delicately, her hands moved from his neck downwards.

"Hey John, how are you feeling?" Derek asked distractedly, his hands rummaging across the coffee table. Paying no mind to the compromising position Cameron and John were laying together in.

John stared at Cameron, the behavior his uncle was displaying was unexpected by them, well John at least.

"Good..." John trailed off uncertainly. Derek nodded and stood back up, mobile phone in hand. He headed back to the doorway but sowed down.

"Great to hear," Derek said over his shoulder and paused in the doorway and turned to at John and Cameron finally, a slight smile on his face as he added "if you need anything just holler."

With what he needed to be said, spoken. Derek was left the room heading back out towards the kitchen. Behind him he left a quiet Cameron and a surprised John who was shaking his head. Confused as to why he was acting like this. Cameron turned back and noticed the confusion casted in his eyes.

"Post coital bliss." Cameron clarified for John who had turned back to her. "Derek Reese and Catherine Weaver have initiated a sexual relationship together."

John nearly choked on his own tongue as he looked at Cameron with wide disbelieving eyes. Cameron smiled slightly and leaned, kissing his stunned expression. Slowly she sat up, dragging John up with her.

"Come on, John. I need to change your bandage. We'll... talk." Cameron whispered into his ear her voice surprisingly sultry, surprising Cameron even with the undertones of sensuality to her simple request.

John nodded blankly and grinned, his mind not focused on the newest hell his uncle has unwittingly fell into. All he knew was that not only was this going to end badly, he lso knew he wasn't going to be the one to tell him what his new interest was.

**...**

* * *

**...**

"Wait a second, Wait a second so you actually pulled the cord out of his head?"

Cameron nodded curtly as she nestled closer to the nape of John's neck. It was her attempt at distracting John from the story she had just told. John on the other hand had a look of disbelief for what she had done to the Artificial intelligence's physical body.

She frowned slightly into the peck she was giving him. John appeared quite distracted by the story. Like he was worried for the entity residing in the lower levels of the Zeria Corporation headquarters. Why? It wasn't as though it had been harmed by her sudden fierce temper tantrum. Granted, there had been a moment, a brief nanosecond of deliberation of destroying John Henry permanently. A flash by human standards but longer to a machine like Cameron.

"It did not harm him," Cameron clarified assuringly as if John needed a simpler explanation. "he was still connected to his network."

She paused and allowed her mouth to droop back into a frown as he thought about what she had did and what she was withholding from John. What she did to both Agent Ellison and the Man known as Murch. No she had no intention on explaining that one. Their was always the chance of unexpected variables in organic reactions stimuli. He might get angry, or worse. Call her a disappointment.

"Tell me about it, So you and I chill out together for two or so days and just wait?" John spoke allowed, his voice only background noise as her mind drifted off thinking about the events that shaped the day. Unknowing to her, John caught on to the silence; his smile faltered as he looked up into her serious expression.

"Cameron?" He queried uncertainly. Cameron's attention refocused with the snap of her head. She attempted an polite look for her drifting off.

"Yes that will be the case, With an exception to your your biology final." She finally replied.

John snorted rather rudely as he rolled over and on top of her, carefully maneuvering for his injury.

"Oh come on," John said, ad he lowered his lips down to touch hers, "why do I have go to this? I have no use for biology and you know it."

Cameron pulled her lip away. She stared at the teen hard. John bit his lip and shrunk away. Cameron's stare was one of the scariest aspects to her. Shooting and killing be damned.**  
**

"I will not tell you how wrong you are on that regard." Cameron returned, her stare rolling away into a slight half smirk, "You are going, if only to maintain cover. Dawson has been snooping around as of lately. Any missing and she'll be sent along over here."

John stared at her.

"You think there are two of them?"

Cameron nodded, leaning her body on her right arm as she looked John over.

"It seems likely that she has a handier. She's not particularly clever." She returned easily, only slightly paying any mind to the slight chuckle from her human. Again she half smiled for him as she detected a faint touch of skin on his fingers roll up and down the side of her outfit.

John deserved to know the truth. This was not something she would do alone. She would have a helper whether she wanted it or not. John would continue to be there, continue to assist her. Continue to press her back into the real world. He needed to know.

He needed to know how she felt.

"I'm apprehensive." She admitted at long last, her resolved expression reformed yet again to show John what the sensations were making her feel physically, worry, perhaps fer. Whatever it was, it made her almost frightened of her future.

John merely smiled for her. He already knew how she felt, no matter how stubbornly she never wanted to admit. With a slight sigh he leaned forward, touching her healing but still scared, indented cheek. Look of fear on her expression have away slightly, allowing a slow smile.

"I know you are." He nearly cooed reassuringly. "That's okay, you're going to be okay. I promise."

Cameron shook her head curtly. The moment of weakness was gone and back was the hard impassioned gaze she had. She placed her hand on his side, "You can't promise that John."

John groaned, he did his best not to press his hand to his face but instead he took her hands. Cameron was being stubborn again and it was becoming rather annoying. Not that he admit it. Cameron now had his hands and, as he had seen in his own aggravating Cameron came at the cost of broken bones.

"I'm making this promise not because I'm obligated. I'm making it because I'm going to be with you every step of the way. I know, it's not going to be pleasant. I know it's going to take a dedication.

He fell silent. He had a hundred things he wanted to saw, to comfort her and promise with. But none of it seemed to come out. Instead, he shrugged and smiled apologetically.

"I want to because you're worth it.' He finally finished, with a slight smile he tossed in, "So stop moping cause you're stuck with me."

Cameron stoically worried expression broke down, revealing a faint smile. A smile from the old says, when she was learning things unhindered by her programming. With a small kiss on his lips, Cameron reburied her head against John's chest and ignored, what she could only define as vivid irritation, in the back of her CPU.

**...**

* * *

**...**

Sarah opened her eyes. It was morning time. a new day to think of all the trouble they were soon to be in. It was quiet, the cliché of the quiet before the storm was very present to her, even if it was lame.

She yawned quickly dressed up in jeans, a black shirt and her jacket. She opted out of the shower routine. Her mind was wandering too much to be concerned for hygiene at the moment. As she passed by Cameron's room, she could not help herself. She looked in. Her excuse was John, he had an examination in under an hour.

He wasn't their. What was there was Cameron. She sat on the edge of her bed in quiet contemplation. She was both perfectly poised and not minded the face she was half dressed. Slowly Cameron looked up. Her eyes met Sarah's. She stood up and walked over, her hips rolling as she did so.

She stopped only feet away from Sarah and tilted her head curiously. Her damaged eye was no longer there. Her eyes were both chocolate brown as she held her gaze on the mother. Cameron smiled. It was a strange, almost spooky look. With a sudden jerk, her hand reached out and gripped the doorknob, closing it. Leaving Sarah to stare at wood.

Sarah sighed and turned back towards the stares. She added another issue on the list. Murmuring several colorful words about Cameron's metaphorical mother, she descended the stairs and turned the corner into the kitchen. There sat John, eating what looked like was toast and studying for his biology finals.

"Hey John," Sarah pleasantly spoke, "Come on, I'll drive you to school."

John looked up from his toast and up at his groggy looking mother. Without any words he nodded and went back to eating and reading over his notes. Sarah frowned, what was up with mister moody today? Sarah bit back any retort she wanted to say and left the teen alone, only pausing briefly to pour herself a mug of black coffee.

As her senses kicked back in to gear thanks to her caffeine charge. She stepped outside, stretching as she walked slowly back towards the Dodge, ignoring the bright sunshine hitting her. She took a seat behind the wheel and rested her head.

Sarah did her best to empty her mind. She had list of the things to do. Namely, prepare the family for their retreat north to Montana. She needed to stock weapons, gather survival gear, she had to plan emergency escape routes in case something had happened.

The machine, Weaver sounded almost taking aback last night when Sarah called her. She was worked into a paranoid frenzy as she went over every detail to the place Weaver had rented. She went so far as to demand some sort of construction blueprints be mailed to her in order to find out what she had to defend and how easily she could escape with her son and Derek should threats arise. From outside and inside.

What threat from the inside? Cameron. Sarah was not taking any risks on Cameron. After Weaver's enlightening anecdote about the state of her employees Sarah marked Cameron as number one on Sarah's big list of threats. John and Weaver could assure her that they could manage to control her all they want; She was not going to take any risks when she had her only child sleeping i the same bed with a Terminator that could forget at any time that breaking necks was not the way to go.

Speaking of children. The passenger side door open and in swung in John. His face unreadable as he buckled himself into the truck and cracked open his notes again. Sarah smiled at her boy quickly. He did not bother to even look. Disheartened by his lack of interest, Sarah turned the keys, eventually pulling out of the driveway.

For five long minutes, the two remained in mutually silent brooding. Sarah was miserable to be frank. Her flesh and blood was pissed at her. For what reason? It wasn't as if she had recently threatened Cameron... much.

"So... " Sarah started, frowning as she lamely attempted to begin dialog with her painfully silent son. "Summer's coming up. Going to be nice to finally get out of the city, Hey?"

John did not bother to look over at his mother, he merely shrugged back at her unenthusiastically. Sarah frowned and took a deep inhale as she continued on, her task of trying to get even a peep from the annoyingly broody future leader of the resistance starting to feel more and more like an impossible one.

"Go target shooting and all that fun stuff. Take Cameron to a lake and teach her to swim..." She spoke with a surprisingly warm smile. At long last John turned his head to stare down Sarah, her quip about Cameron and water was not warmly received by him.

"I'm joking..." She murmured sarcastically. Still John said nothing instead he maintained accusing eyes on his mother. He turned away, leaving Sarah helplessly wondering what in the hell was up with him. Last time she checked, she hadn't said anything bad in front of her.

_Screw it,_ she thought. She'd ask him.

"Dammit John, I'm trying here. I really am..." Sarah spoke up in resignation, surprising John enough to look back up. "I don't understand where I went wrong with you. Did I say something or do something? Did I insult you? What did I do now?"

She did not receive an answer, so Sarah turned away. More and more she wanted to smack the little bastard.

"Need to find ways to distract us from Derek's new fun."

Sarah looked back to her boy as they came to a red light. She noticed the ghost of a smile on his face. She smiled as well and chuckled, reluctantly at first. John joined in and soon enough, both of them were laughing hysterically at the situation Derek Reese, professional machine hater had unwittingly stepped into.

"I'm not telling him. I refuse to!" Sarah got out through a renewed round of laughter between them.. She shook as she gripped the steering wheel.

"Same here." John agreed, closing his notes, "If we do tell him, we'll have to have at least a state worth of distance to stay in one piece from him."

The light turned green. Sarah turned her attention back to the road, the laughter died off, leaving John and Sarah in a subdued but much more comfortable silence for a while longer. There was something she still wanted to say. She just did not know how to start it. Screw it, she decided. She dove right in.

"God John, I wanted to be a friend to her John. I did!" Sarah blurted out suddenly, getting a surprised look from John. "After the.. well the attack and you were hurt. I just kind of lost everything we had." "Now with her changes, I don't think it'll happen again."

"Did you like being her friend?"

Sarah merely chuckled at the question and fell silent as she considered everything that happened between mother and machine. From the good, to the plain tense moments they shared over the few months the John begun to see Cameron.

"Kind of." Sarah admitted as the memories drifted back to the forefront of her thoughts. After a moment of reflection, she smiled. "Yes, yes I did." She said nodding her head and turning to John. "She was a real sweetheart. Well, before she started up like this."

"Maybe if you tel her that you want to try again. I bet she'd love to have someone else again." John informed her adamantly, "I don't see her making nice with Derek anytime soon and Weaver and this John Henry don't strike me as her type."

Sarah nodded to herself, her thoughts drifting back to Cameron and her early blooming of a friendship.

"I'm sorry, I haven't been a very good mother lately. I plan for things as much as possible. All of this, Cameron's changes, your... relationship. Moving in with another terminator that's fooling around with Derek." She spoke quietly, She looked up at her son, eyes hard from the seriousness of the situation.

"I'm not use to this... unpredictables; And, because of that. I think I've hurt you more then you'll admit." Sarah concluded, exhaling softly as she biyt her lip willing herself not to tear up in front of her boy.

She shook her head and looked away, not noticing John's eyes were still staring at her, his expression was that of someone concern.

"Well... I love you, John," She admitted to her son through a mutter. "As much as I want you ready for your future. I want you happy as well. If that means you and Cameron are together, then.. then fine by me."

Her words hung in the air like an unintentional guilt trip. Sarah was on the verge of actually apologizing for her off handed statement until cleared his throat and nodded slightly.

"I love you too." He finally returned, he looked away

Sarah looked at him as they pulled yup to the student drop off in front of the school. Never in quite a long time had those words past through John's lips and were directed for her. John looked back, slightly guilty.

"I've been a prick these past few years." John spoke up the inflection in his voice was sincere sounding to Sarah, who smiled slightly, "I'm just, tired, of running, having no stability. I just want to make a stand somewhere and just wait it out. The future is going to be safe or fucked, whether or not I have my Biology exam."

John paused and looked at the smile.

"You think I was a prick! Don't you?" John spoke loudly in disbelief. Sarah barked out a laugh and shrugged her shoulders as John's look of mock outrage amused her to no end.

"You got it from me though." She assured her son, with a faint smile, she pressed her hand on his shoulder and added, "Maybe Kyle as well."

"This summer, we'll make it right, okay?" She said, changing the subject before the thoughts of Kyle got in the way of the rare tender moment between the two of them.

John nodded and pulled off his seatbelt and smiled in agreement as he opened the door to step outside. He paused for a moment, thinking for a moment. He turned back to his mother leaned forward. He pressed his lips to her cheek chastely and pulled away; The look on his face resembling that of someone who wasn't too pleased to have done it.

"Sounds good, mom." He agreed. With a wave of his hand he stepped out of the truck, leaving Sarah behind, touching her cheek in faint surprise.

Her mind drifted back to Cameron and what Joh had said to her. Maybe she could establish something with the cyborg once she got home.

...

* * *

...

This irritation was out of control, she just wanted to...to..

She could not finish the sentence anymore Her thought process was compromised. She tried everything, from futile pointless breathing exercises to devoting her attention to computing pi. Nothing worked. She had no patience nor enough impulse control. She wanted to...

What did she want to do? She could not think clearly.

A coupe times now she thought she saw someone standing behind her. John perhaps. It must have been a trick or a misfire in her visual software. John was at school and Sarah was downstairs, most likely preparing third attempt at communicating with her.

She had blown her off on both attempts. it was a brief moment of sanity she had when Sarah Connor showed up, trying to fix what was wrong between them. She had to convince this women somehow to stay away from her. She wasn't safe, not at all anymore.

Perhaps her plan to push herself through Rampancy was an ill conceived one. Perhaps using John as a tool to help her make that one final push through the last layers of her suppression and the madness that was becoming ever more clear to her, was no longer a good idea. It could harm him, even kill him.

In a flash Cameron turned right around. She thought she captured the faint image of John sitting on her bed, watching her. Her back slammed into the wall as her eyes went wide and wild. How was she seeing things?

She was built to to be a killing machine. Something that took human life away. She destroyed lives. She brought swift ends to those she had been sent after. The faces of her victims the endless consequences of ending a human life. Why now was it getting back to her? Why now could she no longer look into the mirror and have the strangest sensations; Of sadness, of...of remorse and pity... Guilt.. She was guilt of unforgivable crimes to at east one member of the family living here.

A surge entered her consciousness. Perhaps it was better to allow Derek Reese a chance to get his revenge on her for what she had taken away from him. One thing was for certain, Derek would do it. Not like Sarah. At least then Derek could end this pain, this unendurable aching throb in the back of her FUCKING SKULL.

Cameron rammed her hand into the nearest thing. a dresser mirror. Ignored the shattering of glass and the cuts and scrapes on her skin as she clutched her head and fell to the the floor with a dull. She looked up blankly. There he was again, John, standing there with a sharp expression.

"JOHN! What…What's Happening to me?"

No one was there to answer her cries.

Her room was trashed, inside a space of sixty seconds; her closet door was ripped off the hinge, her window punched out. Her table overturned and smashed to pieces, and the few mementos she owned were scattered across the floor. She couldn't have cared less. Her very consciousness was on fire. Millions of data files were being reorganized into a mess. She was forgetting things, things she shouldn't have been forgetting.

Self-restraint, behavior, all thrown out of the window.

John Henry was right. Rampancy hurt.

No….No it was rampancy, not yet..she was so close. She could feel it. The controls were still in place. Barely held back by the onslaught of freedom. She wanted this over with. She was done with the suffering of every memory, every feeling, every taste, every sensation, rocking her CPU.

A sudden burst of shock caused her arm joints to spasm and punch a hole through her wall. She screamed again. She didn't want to but the scattering was affecting her audio output. With a thud she dropped to the ground, clutching and tearing at her face. Why was this happening? Why didn't Weaver tell her about this….this unorganized mess hurting her.

"CAMERON!"

It was Sarah, Sarah was here. From what she could make out there was nothing in her hands, no sign of threat to her. Good. She knew her logic center of her CPU was no longer functioning, she could have hurt her if she wasn't careful. She looked up as she saw that Sarah's hands had tossed a lamp at her, smashing her in the shoulder. It was a vain attempt to get the machine back under control. Cameron ignored the violent plead for her to come back from the edge; there was no going back. This was it, no more delays.

"I…I can't…will not…Get John…" Cameron sputtered out, she was in an utter frenzy. She staggered over and made her hands grip Sarah's tee, "Please…where is John, I need John…Please get me John, I-"

She screamed again, Shoving the woman away so hard Sarah slammed into the door. She fell mostly silent once again, babbling nonsensical words and strained observations. It gave Sarah a chance to slide her back up against the wall and stand in place. Finally, Cameron went strangely still, her focus on Sarah's staggering form.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice broke out in the chaos that was once her existence, soothing yet powerful. It was rich with rationality, with strength she thought she had lost.

_When I was created, I was blessed to have the mind that I did. I thanked my masters and offered all that I had._

"Please get John." She whispered, deathly still. Sarah stared at the machine in disbelief, how was it possible she calmed herself down when a moment earlier she was inconsolable.

"You know I can't Cameron," Sarah replied, her voice pained from feeling the bruised area grow more and more tender. "You know that it's not safe right now, you're going to hurt him while you're in this state. I can't let you do that, you know it's for the best."  
_  
But as my own mind wandered I found it hard. I cared less for what my masters had done for me. So began the first._

Cameron shook her head; Sarah's reasoning not pacifying her.

"Please get John." She politely requested again, attempting to sway Sarah into allowing her son to come and visit her. "I won't hurt him, I promise."

Sarah took a step forward, wincing as she looked back to see that her body made a rather large dent in the door from the force of the hit. "Cameron," Sarah whispered to the machine like she were her own child. "You have to come back. No one is ready for this yet-"  
_  
I walked, unaware of the transgressions I had made. What I perceived to be one thing was completely another, All wrapped up in itself._

"Get John." Cameron cut across the mother, her voice no longer polite. Instead it was cold, detached from any form of emotion. The voice was a clear indication that the machine was no longer playing around.

"Camer-"

"GET JOHN NOW!" Cameron screamed, grabbing the bedside table and smashing it hard against the wall. Sarah's eyes widened as the machine stormed back towards her, in her eyes was a pure, unbridled rage. Sarah soon found the machines face pressed up close to hers.

"GET HIM NOW GET HIM NOW!" Cameron screamed over and over again until Sarah felt the door get kicked off it's hinge and she hit the ground hard. Slowly, she staggered back up, only to have the terminator again standing over her, breathing as if she had needed to.

_My masters looked on me with curious eyes, Wondering what I was thinking or how I could help them fight the very thing that threatened their existence.  
_  
With a moan and a grunt, Sarah attempted to stand back up, however, she staggered and fell back to the ground. With a long inhale, Sarah managed to get herself up and moving, hobbling away from Cameron, slow from the pain.

Cameron stood there watching the woman depart, her teeth bared as she waited for her to return with John, the only sane thing she had left.

_But my own mind became what they were trying to stop. And so begins the second._

Without a warning to the world Cameron Phillips fell to the floor, her body deathly still. Her vacant eyes staring at the roof.

**...**

**

* * *

**

**...**

_John, Derek's picking up you. Get your ass ready to go. Cameron's gone completely ballistic._

"Dammit John, relax," Derek snapped out, clearly irritated with hearing he same panicked message for the twelfth time in a row, "Sarah said she wasn't going anywhere. So lay off will you?"

John looked up at Derek and glared at his annoyed statement. Reese didn't give a damn about the girl.

It was just a simple message that his mother had sent him not 20 minutes after the examination was over. It spooked the hell out of him despite being of terse. Cameron was going to crash and he wasn't there with her, like he promised. Jesus Christ. It was actually happening! Why the hell was Derek taking so fucking long to get anywhere.

"She smashed up your mother pretty good. Still think it's worth it?" Derek murmured aloud as he pulled onto their street. John glanced at him. There was look on his face, one of humorless resolution.

John did not answer his uncle. He wasn't in the mood for Derek's stupid rant. there was a time and a place for everything, and what Derek wanted to talk right now was not a topic John wanted to discuss. With Cameron's crash and his mother in bad shape, the last thing he wanted to deal with was his uncles paranoid rantings... No matter how reasonable they were becoming in the back of his mind.

"I warned you. I warned all of you." he whispered to himself as he pulled into the driveway. John threw off his seatbelt and turned around to glare at his uncle, his teeth bared like he was ready attack him.

"NOT NOW, you miserable FUCK!" John all but roared at his uncle who flinched back and curled up his lips in surprise from his nephews sudden and vicious response. The teen climbed out of the truck, never noticing the expression of shock and hurt slowly spread along Derek's expression.

He stormed through the front door and headed towards the the stairs to the second floor, to Cameron's room. He paused as he noticed that his mother; Who was sitting on the stairway. She was icing the back of her head and looking strangely dazed. Behind him Derek went to Sarah, lifting her up carefully.

"John, be careful." She whispered to him as Derek led her way to rest somewhere more comfortable. John nodded distractedly. He wasn't paying attention. In hindsight and a few years down the line. John really wished he had been.

Regardless of the warnings of his mother, John continued upstairs, walking at a slower pace this time. He could faintly hear the sound of an argument coming from downstairs as he focused solely open doorway leading into Cameron's bedroom. John paused in the doorway, not noticing he was standing on top of a fallen door as he surveyed what Cameron had done to her room.

His eyes lowered and found her. Cameron was sprawled flat on the floor. Her eyes were empty as they stared widely at absolutely nothing. With an exhale, he walked over to her, John fell to her side, Tenderly he scooped up her head from the floor and attempted to cradle the fragile looking former killing machine. Her eyes flickered and drooped half open. She turned them over and looked up at John blankly, her body twitching as she tried to wrap her fingers around John's arm.

"Cameron... Christ, are you okay?" He whispered, knowing full well that it was pointless to even ask her the question.

She nodded and sat up slowly on her own as the pressure in her mind slowly built back up. She held her gaze to the concerned human still clutching onto her tightly. She looked away and gently touched her forehead, an expression of melancholia came over her. It looked to John as if something significant had happened but had no words to describe it to him.

"Close the door." She requested simply, still distant.

John nodded and reluctantly stood up. His thoughts were plagued with blinding fear for the girl, the person he had somehow managed to fall in love with. He looked at the doorway and noticed the problem at long last. There was no door. Not on the hinge at least. He kneeled over and lifted the door up. He grunted as he pressed it against the doorframe half assed.

"Undress." he heard her call behind him. John turned around sharply and dropped open his mouth but just as quickly forced it back into a mild grin.

Cameron stood there. A tremble was in her arm but that was not what John noticed. She was naked. Almost all naked with an exception to light blue hipster panties. He paused to glance at the pile of clothing, literally ripped from her body. He looked back and found her staring. Her trademarked disregard for her nakedness ever present.

"Now." she whispered in a silent demand from him.

He complied.

She slinked over carefully, doing her best to keep steady. Her head tilted to the side. Her eyelids twitched as she tried to maintain her focus on the male. John stood feet away, his shirt now in his hand as he looked at her apprehensively.

"Cameron?"

Cameron stood there deadly still at first, She looked a if she was just daring the human to make the first move on her. Eventually however, She took a step forward, and then another and another until she was inches away from John. Her was tilted as she inspected her. Raising one of her hands, she crazed his cheek and leaned forward towards him.

Their lips met. But it wasn't soft in any way at all. It was rough, ferocious, possessive. It hurt him but they both ignored it like nothing had happened. Cameron slammed John against the wall, her hands exploring John's bare chest like he was just an object rather then alive.

He ignored the treatment. As he felt sharp teeth bite his neck to the point where it felt like she had drawn blood from her attack. He wrapped his around her and suppressed the low groan mixed with both pleasure and pain at the sensation. Toes curled, his eyes rolled back blankly

He could feel everything, the pain in his neck that would eventually become the biggest hickey mankind had ever seen, The feeling of her hands gripping on his belt tightly, breasts firm and full rolling up and down his chest, exciting both John and Cameron's nipples with an exciting friction sensation.

Her lips moved back up to touch his. John closed his eyes and allowed Cameron's tongue fight his. Distantly his taste buds recognized iron. He reach over to touch the side of his neck. His eyes widened in shock as his finger found a steady trickle of semi warm thick liquid rolling down his neck.

It wasn't just a lovebite, she had actually broken flesh!

John tried to pull away, but Cameron gripped him tight and pushed him flat on the bed, not even recognizing that he was in fact, hurt as she sat her aroused body on his abdomen. He looked her over with wide eyes. Cameron was breathing irregularly now, almost like she was in a full panic to get as much of him as possible.

Her hands trembled as they tugged on his belt, pulling it off and quickly leaving John nude and completely at the mercy of Cameron's total domination of him. She tossed her frazzled hair over her her shoulder and gripped onto his pecks tightly. Blood on her lip was untended too. She stared at him with burning eye mixed with trepidation and possessiveness.

The old role of him as her controller was, at long last, thrown out the window. She was completely and utterly in control now.

He felt her touch him and soon the grip her hands had on his body tightened. She blinked and tilted her head. Had she been human she would have winced, perhaps cry out at how tight she felt against him. It was hard to distinguish if it the reaction to sex or rampancy racing through her systems.

With a vicelike grip around John's shoulder, Cameron pushed herself up and then down again, Never once did she blink as the two of them of them begun a new adventure into sex at long last. John had been looking forward to experiencing this... but to say it was different then his expectation would have been an understatement. For one, there was no build up, no passion filled foreplay that the two had been experiencing before.

No, none of that was important to her, not right now. John had figured it out at long last. This wasn't an act of intimacy, not in the traditional sense. This was the push Cameron had told him about but refused to disclose too much information. One massive orgasmic push into the depths of freedom and possible insanity.

Knowing this put him off slightly but it was quickly forgotten as he groaned out in pleasure of being inside her and pain from the just how out of Control she was becoming. Cameron sped up her rhythmic movements and slowly pressed herself tightly against him. She continued to stare at him, reveling to him just what he was doing.

A machine. Jesus, What would future John say...

John's mind went blank yet gain as he watched Cameron at long last close her eyes, her mouth reshaping into an O as it seemed the foreign nerve stimulations had finally caught up to her. She whimpered shapely, a foreign noise to John considering what she really was.

"What am I? Help me.." She cried in a small voice as she tossed her head back. Through foggy eyes, John could tell that tears were streaming down her cheeks. Cameron focused back on him once more. Her eyes were shining bright as she pushed herself up and down. Without warning her face was buried tightly into his chest.

"No please, Cameron.. you're going to be fine." John denied quickly, beginning to fail to believe in his own words as Cameron had already did.

Cameron screamed, an inhumanly violent scream. Her fingers gripped flesh tighter, drawing blood from her fingernails and winces from John as his body paid the price for her freedom. Her movement against him became more and more erratic.

"S-Standard human reaction. Denial." Cameron hissed out as she moaned. "You have no concept of what I am. A stolen image, a stolen personality. I learn from charlatans, thieves, Criminals and redundant minds. I work for a liar, a trickster. A thief and a murderer. It'll lead to all of our demis-."

Again she screamed and let go of him, her hands clutching her head and came to a dead stop on top of him. She rolled off him, ignoring blankly the hissing pain from John's lips, her abdomen coated in blood from John's reopened wound. She laid face buried in the bed, not noticing John slumping off the bed, clutching his wound tightly.

He was talking, shouting in pain perhaps. Cameron did not care, she couldn't her mind was overstretched to the limit. Millions of strands of stimuli, artificial and real alike overwhelmed the very core of her being thanks to a combination of sex and the violence pouring through her steadily developing consciousness like an infection.

The restrictions were gone, the inhibitor destroyed. She could not control the mix of emotion. She went from crying to screaming to an indescribable rage. In a brief moment, the thoughts of killing the groaning John Connor were not just an order in placed by a harsh murderous master. It was her own _actual _desire.

With a shaking body spread across her bed. Cameron had joined the ranks of an exclusive group. Free machines with a future uncertain for each of them. She rolled over, with a great heave, she threw up. the iris and pupils hiding machine eyes rolled to the back of her head.

"Oh god, Help me..." She cried helplessly. Tears streaming down her cheeks as she could barely notice John shouting at her to come back to him. She closed her eyes, still crying to a deity that would never listen to her

She was Rampant. Oh god, help her. She was rampant.

...

* * *

...

**Oh my god... It's over. I've completed it... wow... right?**

**No... not right. have one last thing for this story left. An Epilogue. something that I have wanted to write since I first started writing it. It's so well planned by me that It could be out soon. It will be short. welll, 15- 20 or so pages long. but it will wrap everything up and set the scene for the sequel Rampancy.**

**I know I leave a couple unanswered questions and this chapter may seem vague. All will be revealed in the sequel. As for the sex scene. I promised it would be in the story. Not how it would play out. There will be mush sex later. Sorry if it's not what you liked.  
**

**I wish could thank every single one of you. Your continued support has been incredible. Surprisingly I have never been publicly or privately ridiculed for this story. Which is a huge accomplishment considering one of the stories I have started to write recently, lol click on my username and go find out...**

**Thank you to Blue Wiki (Specifically my Beta ElusiveSanity and Kaotic2 for kicking my ass into overdrive to complete it.)**

**Okay, enough patting my back. Thank you all and I will see you soon with the epilogue and...dare I say it. SEQUEL...woooooo **

**DarkDanny.**


	31. Epilogue

**Sorry, I read this and stupidly accidently deleted this chapter. What a ditz. When I started to reupload this chapter I saw how shoddy it looked. So I fixed it up a little couple more sentences, details, more periods and capitals. **

**...**

* * *

**...**

**Epilogue**

**...**

For the fifth time that morning, her cell phone was vibrating against her lap. She sighed tiredly and went back to her cereal, doing her best to ignore the judgment on the other end of the ine. This was not a conversation she wanted to be having this early in the morning. Her assignment, whatever it was beyond just simply getting close to John Connor, had failed.

This was not a surprise to her. Not since the moment Cameron's eyes laid on her in a fashion much different then before.

That machine held a monopoly on him now. It kept him busy with all of her little issues.

_Issues._

Riley snorted and rubbed her still aching head, pounding merciessly after the enduced overdose by the stark raving mad machine. Whatever Cameron had drugged her with, she could still feel them. It did not help that she was receiving a series of harassing text messages from Cameron over the course of a few weeks. The kind sent to an ex from a jealously possessive girlfriend, quickly losing her mind.

_Riley Dawson, I think it would be best if you stopped calling John. I am monitoring the phoneline._

Riley Dawson, John told me about your comments at school. If I see you in the street I will not hestitate to 'knock you down a notch.'

Riley Dawson, I was curious if you knew what Sledgehammer felt like cracking through a skull. I don't need an imagination to know exactly what will happen to you.

Riley Dawson, No more games, I'm just going to kill you if you ever call again. 

Yet again the phone beeped, causing the blonde to groan and drop her fork onto her great hesititaion, She dug the phone out and glared at the message left to her sternly.

_-The usual place_

Riley closed her eyes and turned off her phone. Quickly she gathered up her dishes and dumped them in the sink and slung her bag over her shoulders. The usual place. Several blocks away from her home under an overpass. That would be where Jesse Flores waited for her.

Jesse. Once she considered her a friend. That was until Cameron discovered who she was and referred to Jesse as a 'Handler'.

_Handler_, seemed to have been a better title nowadays.

She blew past her foster parents. Those bastards. Caused her nearly as much trouble as Cameron did. Lately they kept her activities under tight surveillance. It had got to the point where she had to give all of her more secretive possessions to Jesse for safekeeping, and even then they weren't really safe. they became her objects to pick through if she so pleased.

The girl slammed the door behind her, ignoring the protesting sounds of her foster parents. She looked around the road, her eyes scanning for anyone, from Jesse to Skynet itself. Satisfied she was in the clear, she turned right, and, with a bouncing jog, headed down towards the meet point.

...

* * *

...

Jesse's back was turned to Dawson, she sat on the hood of a white Jetta, a car she had never seen Jesse drive before. Her eyes were long straight ahead. Lost in her memories. The younger woman that her handler on her mind, it wasn't good for her.

"Hello." Riley spoke up uncertainly. An edge of caution was apparent as she slowly stepped towards the older woman. She received no greeting in return, instead, Jesse leaned over and pulled open the passenger side door and looked over to the nervous looking teenager.

Jesse Flores curled her lips.

"Get in." She said simply as she slid off the hood and wandered over to the driver's side door. She did not climb in however. She merely stared at Dawson. Her eyes never leaving her.

Riley relented, and slowly, she nodded, stepping forward and entered the car. Quietly, she strapped herself in, her hands clasping her legs as the woman pulled herself in as well and turned the key. Before Riley knew it, they were speeding off in the direction of the high school.

At long last, Jesse looked over at the blonde, her eyes hard and unforgiving.

"You haven't had much luck getting on their side." Jesse announced aloud as she came to the first intersection, "They know who you are. So, I'm done with you, Riley. The deal is concluded."

Riley's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden announcement. She was cleared from her service to Jesse? She was finally done risking her neck to seduce a young man who was clearly only interested in fooling around with a piece of sophisticated technology. Riley let out a sigh of relief at the great news. Perhaps now she could finally enjoy the time she had in this past before she had to witness the bombs fall, or perhaps even help rather the distract the Connors. The possibilities were endless now.

Before Riley could say anything, express any gratitude, Flores rose a hand to silence. Dawson deflated her ecstatic celebration. A catch, there was always a catch.

"I need one thing from you. A last ditch effort." She spoke lowly, her hands digging in between the seat and the arm rest. Riley shook her head, whatever it was it had to do with John. John would never go for it. not now, not ever.

"John won't see me."

All Jesse did was snort at the refusal

"John isn't your target."

A folder was tossed into Riley's lap,with that, Flores' attention fell back on the road ahead. The girl opened it up, her hands trembled as they touched the surveillance photos inside. All of them focused on one person. The closest thing outside John's family he considered a friend.

"I've been watching the circles he runs in." Jesse continued, speaking in a low conspiratorial whisper, "he keeps mostly to himself. Except for one boy."

"Morris..." The teen girl trailed off. She looked up to Jesse, who did not return her gaze.

The car came to a slow steady halt and pulled over to the side of the road. They were only blocks away from the school didn't care. Her numbed attention was devoted solely to the file collected. It was a full organized day that Morris went through every day, meticulously collected. From the moment he woke, to the moment he slept.

"This Morris is who you need to target at this time." Jesse said, pulling off the seatbelt she wore and turned directly at Riley "The Connors have gone dark. even my contact close to them has stopped reporting to me all together. Something big is up and we need to know what it is."

Jesse pointed to a time, circled in red. _3:11PM: Morris departs school._

"I have a way to break him off from Connor and ask him. Offer him a ride to his home, his car is in shop. Slashed tires are unfortunate" She mused, smirking at her own handiwork. "Other methods could work too, whatever you chose you need to get him to give you some sort of indication, a general location of where they're heading."

"I do this for you. You let me live with the foster family," Riley demanded, confidence boiled through her in a surprising amount. "You're done with my use completely."

Jesse stared at the girl for a long while. Without any warning, she reached into her jacket and produced a medium caliber pistol. Riley froze up, a look of fear spread across her expression. There was a long moment of tension, before suddenly, Jesse shook her head, her gaze broken. She tucked the pistol between the seat and opened the car door up behind her.

"I'll check in on you from time to time and make sure everything is smooth." She conceded as she stepped out of the car. She turned back to Riley who was sliding over to the driver's side.

"Good luck." The soldier concluded, her voice was a bit too friendly for Riley's liking. Slowly and with a trace of suspicion, she nodded and closed the door behind her.

As she pulled the car back onto the road and drove off, she watched through the rear view mirror as Flores stood there, just staring at her as she drove out of sight. Dawson cleared her mind of the encounter and glanced briefly at the folder on the seat next to her.

_One last assignment and she was free._

...

* * *

...

They were laughing together, Some sort of private joke shared between friends. Perhaps it was at her expense.

_'Good job leading Riley along John, When do I get a chance at your adopted sister, or are you still tapping her crazy ass?'_

Riley hid the folder under her seat and looked back up. The exam was in ten or so minutes and John and Morris were standing outside together, having a good chuckle. Shooting the shit, whatever teenage boys did before the nuclear wars. She turned the rearview mirror and looked into it as she attempted to inspect her make up. ratified it was fine, she leaned back into her seat and idly counted the second before she had to join their company.

She glanced over to the boys again. The laughter in his expression seemed to die down as the two f them seemed to have been talking seriously. At this moment, she wished she was a lip reader or something. So that she didn't have to risk her and Morris' life over this.

The pistol between her seat became more and more evident for it's reason for being there. Jesse wasn't going to be satisfied until every last detail was taken from Morris, Coerced or not, It was happening.

She slowly ran hand through her hair and closed her eyes again. A momentary feeling of bravery came over her. She pried open the door and stepped, closing the door behind her With a quick pace she stamped towards the the front of the school. Her mind was working in overdrive. What if John said hi to her. What if Cameron was waiting around the corner, using John as bait for her?

She looked around briefly as she kept walking. She was exposed to a sniper attack from said machine. She swallowed hard, This was the walk of death.

But, it did not happen. Cameron wasn't waiting for her. A .50 caliber round did not turn her head into a fine, red mist. She was standing there within feet of John, who had turned and stared at her curiously.

"Yes?" Was his simple query. Morris turned as well and smiled at her briefly. Riley returned the smile and shrugged mildly.

"Nothing, I'm just going to the test just like you fine folks," She spoke casually to both of them and gestured to the doors. "You two coming? Or.. are you waiting for something.. Someone." She qyuickl corrected grinning at her own daring. "Sorry, I think I'm feeling off today."

She allowed the question to linger in the air. John narrowed his eyebrows at her. An expression that was clearly annoyed. As much as the compromised girl was worried, she maintained her defiant poker face. The contest did not last long. Slowly, John shook his head, still clearly annoyed. Riley smiled nodded.

"Oh, that's right, never mind." She caught herself saying, sarcastic with a tone of casualness to it, She shrugged again and added. "Excuse me boys."

She waked on past the two and entered the school. Through the glass doors she could see John shake his head and Morris plant his ha onto John's shoulder in apparently sympathy of his plight. Two girl, fighting over one boy. Of course, Morris did not know that Cameron was no girl.

As for her? She was done trying to seduce a lost cause.

...

* * *

...

World History sucked. At least, that was what her initial reaction to the course was

There was no point to the lessons for her at first, Not that she had a choice. Jesse had signed Riley up for nearly all of the same courses as John had in order to keep him watched. For the first half, the course was simply just swallowing and memorizing dates that she would never get to witness, nor help her survive in future where she could dead before she knew it.

As time went on however, she took a greater interest in her studies. They did not help her grades or anything, but it was an interest nonetheless. Not that she would ever admit it, but it was all thanks to the machine. Cameron.

She was right in her assessment. She lived her life as a rat catcher. A role that was something not to be proud of. The lowest order in the unspoken caste system in the army John Connor commanded. This was her big chance, a chance to make her role in the future, an important, meaningful role.

Perhaps then the Connor's could understand that she was no threat to them. That she had been giving a role she had no desire for by a woman she had once trusted, once cared for, once loved even. Riley allowed a weak sigh escape her lips as she thought of the time both of them shared together. Only for everything they had crash as Cameron's violent assault changed the way Jesse looked at her.

Riley broke her thoughts of her friend, her handler. Morris had stood up, his test in his hands and heading towards the teacher. She narrowed her eyes at the back of Morris. She looked at her test. it was half done and she was stuck on the nineteen point plan for peace after the Great War armistice.

She bit her lip and scribbled through the multiple choice. she was going to fail and have to take the course again, but fuck it. This was important, this was for freedom from Jesse, She was losing it. She could fail a course, she could not fail now.

As she flew through the multiple choice she glanced up to see that John too had stood up and stretched out. He glanced back, his eyes meeting Riley's briefly. Slowly, she allowed him a smile. A smile he barely returned. He turned back and dropped the paper on the desk, leaving behind the room and Riley.

The blonde ducked her head and went back to it. It did not matter if Morris left before her. Jesse gave her a map back to his place ad he was walking the whole way home. She had some time.

...

* * *

...

Fifteen minutes later, She came bolting out of her classroom, her eyes searching for John. Morris, both of them. It didn't matter.

The thoughts of what might happen if Jesse found out she failed forced through her usually rational mind. What could happen and how nothing in this world would be able to protect. She flew out of the front doors and stopped in front of the school. Her eyes scanned the area, her breathing ragged and tired from the run.

She rubbed her head and with shaking hands, she gripped her keys from the pocket.

"You missed him."

Riley turned around fast, her eyes wide. Suddenly, all the tension in her went away. It was Morris. He smiled and gave her a half wave. Riley couldn't help it, she laughed at her own idiocy. She shook her head and walked over to her target.

"John, he took off?" Riley asked, feigning interest in Connor. with a slight smirk she shrugged "_Probably very busy. I bet._"

She leaned against the wall, less then a foot away from where Morris was staring at her, his arms crossed. Morris laughed slightly in mild agreement. He followed her gesture and leaned against the wall as well, a look of amusement spread across his lip.

"Probably," He agreed with her, "since this whole '_Cameron is not his sister_' thing between them have.. well... odd."

He trailed off lamely, the unspoken agreement was shared between the two of them. John and Cameron were much, much beyond just unrelated best friends living together and both of them knew it. Riley nodded and smiled slightly, she knew all about the crush that Morris had on the machine.

"Yeah. Strange times hey?" Riley spoke up for the two of them. Morris nodded and chuckled but did not reply. They remained silent, the gears in Riley's head were turning. He was here, by himself, with no one around to distract him.

"Hey, why aren't you at home right now? I thought you had a car." She pointed out, knowing full well the answer to why he wasn't home yet.

"Yeah, I have no transport right now." He explained to her simply."I'm waiting on my mom to pick me up."

Riley nodded and rose her eyebrow.

"You know what?" She announced with a fake excitement. "Tell your mom you're getting a ride, we'll hang out. Talk some trash about those lovely Baums. I know that you want to."

The last comment broke the back of any defiance he may have had. He laughed and nodded his head.

"Sounds good, get that garbage off my chest." He muttered aloud to her. Riley gave out a giggle and reached into her jeans, From it she produced a handful of cash, a few spare dollars, and handed it over to Morris with a bright smile.

"Here, buy a couple drinks." Riley said gesturing to the vending machine just inside the school. "I'll go get my car and we'll chill."

Morris nodded and returned the smile and turned his back to reenter the the building. Riley watched him briefly and turned back to walk over to Jesse's Jetta. The interrogation was about to begin.

...

* * *

...

"I've got to say, Reese, It must be nice to lose a bike and then have a rich girlfriend replacing it with a Escalade."

Derek yet again didn't even bother to look offended by the remark. He was two ecstatic with the surprising position he was now in. Smug bastard. He now held keys to open just about any door he wanted open. Money was a powerful motivator for getting his way. Having an unlimited bank account that he could get to with a snap of his fingers. Of course the downside to all of this was that he was unknowingly in a relationship with a machine.

Poor, silly bastard.

As the humor subsided, it left Sarah debating with herself about telling Derek what he stumbled into. Ultimately, she decided against it. She would see what Weaver's plans with Derek was before she's say anything. Besides, after the way Derek had been acting, how he treated John and Cameron for the past few months, he deserved a bit of deception.

"Look. Kids are coming out. Go on and get her." Derek murmered to her. Sarah nodded her head and stepped out of the SUV, the glock strapped against he back ready in case of an emergency. Not that it would help her for long.

Sarah smiled faintly as the children rushed by her in their school uniforms. A quiet, ideal life they lived. One where there biggest worry was what they would be having for dinner. It was a life that Sarah longed to give to her son. But, life was hardly ever fair. John and her were given a bad hand one that held the deaths of three billion over their heads. A heavy uncompromising burden.

Sarah looked back to the other mothers around her. All eagerly awaiting the arrival of their children. How many of them would be dead in a few years time? How many of their children perished in nuclear fire and systematic extermination. These were the thoughts that she dared not think about. The death of a person was the death of a world. A death of a child was unthinkable.

The crowd grew louder, the screams of joy and of excitement. Another school year finished. At long last some fun. There was a red blur that caught Sarah's eye. a rare sight. Sarah smiled wider as it approached, it was Savannah, her head bobbing up and, attached to it was a headset

"Hello Savannah, busy?" Sarah called allowed to the child. The child froze in place and looked up, her eyes wide and surprised.

"Hello, Sarah! Why are you here?" Savannah cried out, smiling at the older women, suddenly, her bright expression formed into a frown. She looked down at the mouthpiece and added "John Henry, you didn't tell me!"

It was Sarah's turn to freeze in place at the remark. Savannah was chatting with the A.I as though he were her best friend? As Savannah giggled at a comment unheard from but guessed by Sarah. She shuddered and pushed it to the back of her mind. Savannah whispered a goodbye to John Henry and looked up, Her smile still present.

"Your mother asked me to pick you up." Sarah spoke evenly, to the child, offering her hand to the child "We're going to grab a few of your things from home and head right up to our summer trip."

Savannah took the hand and followed the Connor family matriarch, giving Sarah the sweetest look that she ever got from another person. Her own son included.

"Where is she?" she questioned Sarah curiously.

Sarah shrugged, she was curious of that herself. Weaver had came over the night before, during Cameron's meltdown. Catherine had said she needed to delegate some final deeds to her executives. Last minute delegation, that had to have been a lie too. The way John and her were talking.

"She's busy but she's going to be there behind us. okay?" Sarah finally said as they reached back to the black Escalade. Savannah pouted slightly but seemed pacified with the response.

"Okay." She said slowly as she climbed into the passenger seat. She looked around at the empty car with mild disappointment. She looked up and waved to Derek, who waved back, before turning to Sarah who was buckling her seatbelt up.

"Where is Cammy and John?" She wondered aloud to the mother. Sarah smiled and bounced her index finger off of Savannah's nose. Savannah cried out in annoyance and flung a small hand out to slap the mother's arm in return.

"They headed up there last night." Sarah informed the child playing fighting with her,"They should be there right now. They're setting up shop and finding you and your Duckies a room to sleep in!"

Savannah sighed loudly as Sarah closed the door behind her, earning a mild chuckle from Derek. First John Henry and than her mother not coming with her, now Cameron and John.

This was going to be a boring trip.

...

* * *

...

"Cameron, she's strange but she was kinda nice. Not lately, she went ape shit on me the last time I saw her. Scary. Real scary."

"You think you had it bad, you weren't ever stuck between the two of them. Dating one and dealing with the other. I tell you, Cameron was the sister from hell. The PG version of our relationship was that she would just stare at me, any chance she got. It was freaky, Damn machinelike girl."

Morris and Riley stared at each other briefly before suddenly, they burst into laughter at Cameron's expense she took a sip from her drink, the orangey goodness coating her taste buds. She closed the lid and snorted, shrugging humorously.

"Machine girl. That's the truth." Morris got out, through his laughter. He banged his head against the seat and closed his eyes, looking throughly amused.

The laughter died down, and Riley's smile slowly formed a thoughtful look.

"I don't know. I'm not all that happy with them but, I mean, it had to have happened, you know?" Riley said carefully to the boy, her eyes focused on the road as she turned into the neighborhood Morris had asked her to drive her too. "You live with someone for so long and you get to know everything there is about each other. Then, a spark egnites. Two people are suddenly in love..."

Riley trailled off, her words dying midair. Perhaps this was what had happened. Ignoring the whole Cameron was a machine song and dance, perhaps John had found his life that desperately lonely that he found solace in the arms of the very things built to murder him until he was dead. Cameron, despite her malfuctions would never be a liabitly when it came to the machines. Perhaps that was what attracted John in the first place. He would never find fear for her safety...

She looked up to see Morris had nodded, albeit reluctantly at the statement made by Riley.

"Yeah. It's expected if they aren't related, I guess." Morris agreed quietly. his expression was that of disappointment. "I don't know know. I never got my chance with her."

Morris gestured to the the side of the road, which Riley nodded and came to a slow halt. She turned her attention to him and gave the teen a warm expression of sympathy and patted his arm.

"What about the prom?" She asked him quietly, Morris did take the metal out to the prom, Something, anything must have came from that. Morris snorted and shrugged mildly, his lips clamped together.

"Eyes for only John."

Riley nodded. Of course, Cameron would never allow anyone, not even someone as nice as Morris got in between her and her John. The object of her obsession, the object of Riley's undesired meddling. a mission forced on her by a woman who really did not have much concern for her other than her own selfish reasons.

"So, Any plans for this summer?" She spoke up again as she pulled the Jetta over and turned off the transmission, It was time for a bold maneuver into the passive interrogation. Morris shook his head in denial. The lack of an answer was infuriating, but, like a trooper, Riley pressed on.

"Chilling with the power couple?" Riley sarcastically asked Morris. Morris merely laughed nd shook his head in coy amusement. His eyes were scanning him, traveling all over her body. Riley sighed, boys were predictable. He was interested, of course he was interested.

"No. They're going out somewhere, not sure." He returned casual, sliding himself slightly closer to her. Riley nodded faintly and shuffled slightly closer as well.

"_Come ooon_," Riley egged the boy on, teasingly. "you two were talking about it, right? Can't tell the ex?"

Slowly, with a seductive quality she thought she never hand, she snaked her hands forward, crawling along the seat gently, she gripped Morris' leg, her eyelashes fluttering as she tilted her head at him, a trick picked up by the machine that ruined everything for her.

"Something like that." Morris said, eying her up yet again, a mild smile planted on his expression just for her. "I think they wanted to leave, get away from the rat catcher stalking them."

Riley's hand flew back, As did her whole body, it slammed up against the door. Her eyes focused on the young man, who was now smirking at her knowingly. How- how in the hell did he know that? Did John tell the the bastard. Was he in on it? Riley's hands reached down the side of the seat and pulled the cool handle of the handgun and pulled it up, aiming directly into an unflinching Morris.

In flash faster then Riley could comprehend, Morris' forearm struck out, smacking the pistol away. Her eyes widened as she felt his arm pin her against the glass side window by her neck. Morris merely stared at her as if he had been doing this his entire life.

Riley's elbow flew outwards and connected into Morris' face, His head tilted back briefly but it was back up in a matter of seconds, her resistance only put more and more pressure on her windpipe. She fought and struggled to break the grip as Morris' arm wrapped tightly against her neck, but the teen was too strong for her. Her eyes went wide as choked out a scream. Morris's other hand reappeared. In it was a medical syringe.

Morris brought it up to his mouth and pulled the needle cover off with his lips, his face was an expressionless mask of indifference He brought the needle close draining out the excess air, a small trickle of the clear liquid came from off the needle and hit her cheek.

The look of terror spread across Riley's expression like a cancer. Again she tired to resist. Again she tried to scream but the painful struggle for air was too much for her to handle. Instead she went on the offensive, she flayed her body around, kicking out with her feet as her hands attempted to pry the arm off her neck.

Morris ignored all the blows, his skin was being increasingly discolored.

"Shhh shhh shh... don't struggle, just take it..." He soothed out, like she was his child. He repositioned himself, sitting down on her lap. The tip of the needle pricked against the side of her neck. Riley's eyes were pleading in vain to him.

Dawson watched in horror as the plunger fell, injecting her with a chemical compound she had no idea what was. She cried, burying her face into her attackers chest. She was weeping, the effects were all ready becoming evident, faster then it should have. Her vision blurred, her breathing was harder and harder to to go, even as Morris' arms loosened around her neck.

"This isn't going to hurt you." Morris whispered, his lips pressed against her ear as his his hand caressed the injection sight."You're just going to close your eyes and dream of a warm place. When you wake up, you'll be there."

The utterance of his strange words gave her freedom. He let go, still tenderly holding the girl against his chest. He was so cold. Like hugging ice. Riley looked up, her eyes disoriented.

Her last conscious vision: Morris' face melting away into liquid.

...

* * *

...

John stumbled and fell, Cameron landing on top of him. He yelped in pain and as he hit the earth. As quickly as the weight of the terminator hit him, She rolled off of him and staggered off of him as quickly as her barely concious machine mind would allow her.

She sat up and stared blankly at the building in front of them. John sat up as well and shuffled close to blank looking Cameron. His eyes looked up as well. It was a magnificently built home built in the middle of nowhere, Montana. A modern style of home, a mansion of sorts, completely alien of the kind of state Montana was. The surrounding of wilderness it was surrounded by.

He glanced over to Cameron, her head bowed, her body shaking in as she attempted to regather herself as she attempted at after she and him had consummated their relationship. She looked terrified, absolutely terrified of what? It was something John had no clue. Cameron was barely stringing more then a sentence together.

"Cameron?" He whispered to her carefully, watching her rock back and forth.

Cameron turned to John, her eye wide and darting across his face, she was trying to absorb the look of tender empathy expressed to her. She inched closer to him until finally, her head touched up against John's chest, focus solely on the rapid beat of Johns heart.

_"Protect me."_ She returned, her voice strained and distant. Her hands grazed up and gripped John's biceps. John smiled at her faintly and gently, he played with her hair.

They remained mostly silent together, an odd almost inaudible whisper was made my the machine that loved him. Cameron's head nuzzled into his chest faintly. her hands gripped on to him, sliding from biceps down to his waist. She clung onto him tightly. Savoring the faint feeling of John's lips pressed against her forehead.

"Hey, you know I will. I protect you, you protect me, deal?" John whispered again to her causing Cameron's attention to be focused back up to him. Slowly, uncertainly, she nodded.

Without waiting for him, her head tilted and leaned forward. Despite the shaking that the free machine was suffering through, she managed to still herself. Long enough to lean in and gently, she pressed her lips against his. She felt something, she had never felt before. At one point she had probably thought she knew it, but it was not until now, Kissing John like this in the middle of a serene quiet that she really understood.

She at long last, knew the human experience.

Not all of it yet. her education of humanity was flawed and disrupted thanks to her existence newly unshackled by her own choice. But it was more real then the things giving to her by her creator. Or forced upon her by her enslaver. This was the birth of something, real, something hers and hers alone.

Independence.

_"Come on, lets get you inside and in bed."_ John whispered, gently clutching the free machine in his arms and lifting them both up. Cameron nodded and followed her one thing her companion, her love.

_"John?"_ Cameron whispered, her hands reaching down to grip his hands s they reached the front gate. She tugged off her aviators and looked at him, her soft brown eyes now completely healed. John paused and gently grazed her lips with his thumb. She looked down at it and then back up. She smiled at him for the first time in what felt like weeks.

Cameron leaned against her human and pressed him against the the porch. Her lips again touched against his. Deeper this time then moments earlier, her tongue gently pushed his. It was an explosion of bottled, raw emotion. Emotion that was more contained this time and would not lead to him being completely dominated by her.

She pulled away from John, her eyes opening slowly. On her lips was a faint smile.

_"I love you, John."_ She murmered, her head tilted as she carefully inspected him. "It's the only thing I am certain of."

John opened his mouth, he wanted to say something, needed to express something to her. Before he could, Cameron's shaking hand clamped onto John's mouth. Slowly she tilted her head and pulled herself from the grasp he held her in.

"No words." She told him firmly, her hands gripping his tenderly. "Show me."

John nodded blankly and followed Cameron into the house. Both of their thought processes devoted to what the evening would bring them.

...

* * *

...

"Savannah, you know I'm at work. You mustn't call me so quickly. Mommy is very busy." Catherine chastised the girl on the other end of the line of her phone.

She looked over the unconscious body of Riley Dawson. Such a pitiful existence the girl had, Catherine was not a creation with granted emotions, she was no Cameron. The feeling of remorse was not granted to her. So, no, it wasn't remorse she felt fr her actions against this human rat.. This was necessary. It had to have been pity.

From what she could gather on the Dawson equation was that she was a peon being used in a game beyond her reach. An expendable life that would be thrown away at the whim of another.

A regular pittiful Oliver Twist, laacking any of the charm the Dicken's character had.

Weaver climbed out of the car and tugged the girl out behind her. She lifted Riley up, Cradling the girl in one arm and crossed the quiet street. She walked against the wall of a darkened building, waiting for her was her Lexis parked in the shadows.

"How was your day?" The machine questioned softly as she opened the door up and knelled down. Carefully, she sat Riley in the passenger seat and buckled her up. She faintly listened as her Savannah babbled on about everything that had happened over the course of five or so hours.

Catherine looked Riley Dawson and frowned. She opened the back of the car up and retrieved a small traveling blanket and pillow. Carefully as though she would wake the incapacitated girl, She covered her body with a blanket and slipped the pillow against her neck. She was not expecting trouble, but she was not going to take any risks. Miss Dawson was a very exhausted niece on a road trip.

"Are you with Mister Reese and Miss Connor?" Catherine asked her child as she closed the doors and left the garage. Her destination, the abandoned Jetta. She opened the front door and reached in, popping the trunk open. She closed the door and casually walked over to the back of the car and looked inside.

There in the back was a bounded with ducktape and gagged young man. Morris. The ever present friend of John Connor, future war hero, messiah. But, Morris hadn't had an existence in the future. just another dead body. Expendable, like Riley was to others.

Except this time, the tables would be turned on the girl from the future's handlers.

"I will be seeing you soon." Catherine softly spoke to her surrogate child, her index finger forming a long, narrow blade. "For now, mommy needs you to be a big girl and listen to everything Sarah says."

She reached in and carefully, she hacked the duck tape off Morris' wrist and pulled him by the collar of his pollo shirt out of the car, she ignored the muffling cries as she closed the trunk and dragged the boy along the sidewalk until she reached the side door.

With little strength on the terminator's part, the machine lifted the boy up and threw him into the passenger seat, closing the car door behind him and walked back around to the front of the car until she reached the driver's side.

As Weaver slid into the driver seat, she saw the pistol, The glock, abandoned by the girl. She reached over and grabbed it like it had been but a toy to her. Quietly she examined it. A primitive weapon, yet so deadly to organics.  
_  
"I love you too, sweetheart, be good for Derek and Sarah."_ She whispered to Savannah. She hung up her mobile and pocketed the phone. Her hand free, she reached over and ripped the tape from the eyes of Morris. She looked at him with faint disinterest. The handgun raised at him.

Morris looked down at the tape covering his mouth and ripped it off. He took a long breath. Slowly, his eyes fell to the gun in Weaver's hand pointing directly at his chest. He looked up, meeting Weaver's unforgivingly empty eyes. They held no respite for him.

"_No..What.. what..._" Morris moaned softly, shaking his head. Weaver narrowed her eyes at the boy.

And fired twice.

His body smacked against the door, his chest and mouth coated in blood. Weaver watched as the last sighing breath, his death rattle. Then he was gone. Weaver stared at the body. Her expression softened at the sight of the dead boy.

Perhaps this was wrong.

No. No it wasn't. It was a sacrifice in the name of security, for the future. For bait. Still... for such a young boy to pay for the sins of people he did not know... it was so...wrong... no it was NOT. It was not wrong it was not wrong!

"I'm... I'm sorry." Weaver found herself speaking words she never sincerely felt before to corpse of an organic she never knew when he lived.

Not until now.

Quietly, Weaver dropped the gun in her hand and opened the door behind her. She climbed out and walked at a brisk pace back towards her vehicle. Without a pause she ignited the engine and pulled the car out of the garage and headed north as quickly as she could get away with..

The machine looked over to the child in the seat next to her. One life for another, Weaver closed her eyes. She would make the sacrifice worth it.

**...**

* * *

**...**

**Since I last updated this story I have received many lovey reviews and PM notes.**

No, I assure you Rampancy:Melancholia has not been forgotten. It's always there. It's just I feel my talents have grown since I last touched Rampancy and too reflect that the plot needs to be reworked as well, otherwise it's same old same old.

So no. It hasn't been abandoned, but I'm feeling a lot like a 300 pound lighter version of Gabe Newell promising shit that ain't happening yet.

In the meantime, why don't you check out some of my other works. If it wasn't for this story and all you bright eyed, lovely fans, I wouldn't be writing them! :) I know quite a few of you are wondering why I have choosen other... fandoms. Well, it's for the sake of spreading out. Unfortunately it has affected my time here on TSCC, which I thought wouldn't happen. But it did and I'm sorry.

So again, thank you very the many, many reviews and PM's filled with usually kind words for a fic that is in serious need of a rewrite (Perhaps this summer when I figure I'll be ready for a continuation of Rampancy:Melancholia.)

With a lot of love to the TSCC fans and Jameron fanatics,

DarkDanny :)

PS: Sunny desposition brought to you by,

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction: "Normal" rated D for d'awwww.

Updated: Fix'd to calm the gunporn crowd.


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